Wildcaster

Chapter 1 The Exit

Money talks, and it can make you do a lot of stupid things if theres enough of it
dangled in front of you. It has a voice that says, I really dont care how you feel right
now, Im going to make you get off your lazy, worthless butt and do whatever my current
owner wants you to do, no matter how much you hate it. And for me, money made me
do a lot of things. Many painful, annoying, and humiliating things.
It was stupid how a few pieces of paper could make you someone's slave, but I
was still financing that used pickup truck I brought recently and I needed every buck I
could get my hands on. That among many other things my own obsessions needed to feed
them, including an ever-growing pile of electronics, video games, and my new Telrazor
Sliver smartphone. Thanks for nothing for sucking me dry, all of you. But in the end,
yeah, it was money that ended up with me getting screwed on levels I never thought were
imaginable.
August 8th, 5:03 AM Mountain Time Zone, Phoenix, Arizona, 98 degrees
Fahrenheit. Apparently, money was persuasive enough to get me involved with the
abysmal day trip to Echo Canyon at Camp Brigham on such a date, time, place, and
temperature. I was fresh out of my junior year in high school and had been working
fulltime as a camp supervisor for a month and a half at Camp Brigham, all the way in
freaking Tucson of all places. And from where I was, that meant a killer two hour drive.
And that was all because my oblivious uncle knew the head councilor, Al Gladieri, and
convinced my parents that this would be a great job for me, never once considering the
mind-slaughtering commute.
I had witnessed this under-funded, dusty, and crumbling camp stuffed with
undisciplined kids that screamed like banshees, behaved like monkeys, and always came
dressed like rejected swine. And today was their trip to Echo Canyon, a trip that no one
really cared about except for Al and quite possibly the parents of those hideous demonic
abominations that somehow got away with posing as everyday children. Somehow I got
the feeling they thought this was a good way to get rid of their spawn. As for the rest of
us, this was our road to perdition, packed with fond memories to last a lifetime.
Normally, we were paid twelve dollars an hour, which most of us barely tolerated.
But as luck would have it, Al Gladieri knew we would have skipped out on todays trip
for that kind of money, like we usually do with most trips by making good use of a whole
range of creative excuses we had in reserve for just such an occasion. In a way, he was
smart with that but still very stupid when it came time for a basic reality check. He knew
we would have felt that it wasnt worth it to sit in a scalding-hot car for an hour and a
half, walk about in the excessive heat, and be either bored to tears or totally aggravated
for that little money.
So, he jacked up the wages to thirty dollars an hour for todays trip. I didnt know
how he managed to screw around with his budget to do that, but in our position, you don't
turn offers like that down. My guess was someone in the recreation department really
wanted this trip to happen because of reputation, and was willing to let Al throw a little
more money around to ensure it. Still, when all was said and done, everyone showed up
today, but I could see it in the eyes of the other camp supervisors. I could see a soul

inside screaming for mercy from God, because a face-full of crap like this needs divine
intervention.
At eight in the morning, we were already at the camp itself, loading the vermin
into a rusting yellow bus that some scrap-yard must have rejected. For every trip, Al used
this mustard-colored manure burrito on wheels with windows displaying the worst
behaved vermin the next generation of humanity had used to doom the rest of the world,
all set up like a mobile zoo from the lowest and darkest cavern of Hell.
One mongrel of a kid I knew in particular, Alex Harper, felt bold enough to pull
down the seat of his blue jeans and press his juvenile butt against the window, mooning
me and the other supervisors as his friends screamed with laughter inside. After seeing
that, as much as I fantasized hurling a brick through the window to nail him right in his
buttocks in front of all his stupid friends, the last thing I needed today was to waste my
time in a holding cell before seeing a therapist or end up in a straightjacket in a padded
room while the rest of the world conveniently forgot I existed.
Meanwhile, the rest of the kids were being loaded on as dust and dirt blew in our
faces from the wind picking up. I just looked at the other supervisors, nearly shoving
those kids into the bus while wearing these stupid dandelion-yellow t-shirts with a big
Camp Brigham in dopey wood textured lettering while a smiling cartoon beaver, the
camps mascot, waved below cheerfully much to our annoyance. While we were allowed
to wear whatever we liked for pants, we still had to wear that god-forsaken, sanityconsuming t-shirt. I could at least wear these painters style blue jeans with those gray
sneakers I liked that were still comfortable despite all the pain and suffering Ive put them
through. But the shirt was a must, because if Al didn't see you with the shirt, he gave you
a painfully-long lecture about representation and preparation instead, which as hard as it
was to imagine, was actually worse than wearing the shirt.
While the other supervisors put the vermin in the bus, I had the pleasure of
preparing the car I would be driving all the way there because there was no room on the
bus for the rest of us, although that was actually a very good thing. And the car in
question was none other than Als rusting, ugly, 1980s sedan with chipping blue paint
being prepped for four frustrated camp supervisors. Man, did I hate cars from the 80s.
Despite Als thoughts, this seriously was never my idea of enjoyment, but he liked
to pretend like a six-year-old that everyone was enjoying this. Unlike the others, I knew
how these things always go south and brought a black nylon duffle bag with me, which
had another pair of denim blue jeans and a gray t-shirt with the logo for Snake Lash from
one of my favorite metal bands. Along with that were some potato chips, pretzels, and a
ham sandwich because I knew the lunch that was going to be served there wasnt worth
the scum under my sneakers and was probably handled by someone that the INS wanted
to get a hold of. And then there was money, in case I needed to get a ride home because I
was expecting at least one of these two vehicles to break down along the way or if I
wanted to make a bet with someone on which of the two it would be.
When Al was finally ready, the beer belly and double chin slob decided to be
macho and give us a dopey smile and a thumbs up to get going once all the kids were in
the bus, acting all commander-in-chief on his high-horse. Here, I was actually glad he
was wearing the same stupid Camp Brigham t-shirt we had to wear, because even though
I knew his would be slathered with sweat around his armpits in a few minutes and be a

sight too wrong for mortal eyes, at least he would always look like the more colossal idiot
out of all of us.
Meanwhile, the other camp supervisors and myself had to split into two groups.
Dave and Carla joined Al on the bus, while I was stuck driving Jeff, Sarah, and Mark in
the blue sedan that was older than I was and had more miles on it than stars in the
universe. Once I got in the drivers seat and felt that cozy, scalding sting feeling of leather
thats been sitting in the sun too long, I stuffed the keys in the ignition and waited. All I
had to do was follow the bus the entire trip and not fall asleep. Challenge #2 was
somehow stomach the rancid smell of the Chinese takeout remnants Al had in here the
last time he used it. I was totally convinced the pine tree-shaped air freshener hanging
from the rear view mirror had given up the ghost years ago, not like I believed those
stupid things ever made a difference anyway.
Jeff Benson, a football sports jock I knew from Desert Horizon High School but
never really talked to in class, sat in the back passenger seat, wearing a pair of blue jeans,
black sneakers, and that infamous yellow shirt we all despised. While he was a camp
supervisor here as well, he barely ever showed up because of the long trips needed to get
down here, but this was one payday he couldnt miss out on. He wasnt the kind that
wouldnt openly admit it, but I could tell he was thinking about how much he was going
to hate this. His short blond hair was in okay shape, but probably because it was so short
he didn't even need to comb it. He was a bit heavy built with fair colored skin, blue eyes,
and a straight face. While he usually did seem to be the kind of gentle giant that didn't
talk much, I could swear from the look of his face that he was angry enough to drop-kick
an elderly old lady.
Sitting next to me was Sarah Patterson, with long, hazel-colored hair that reached
down her back. Besides the asinine yellow shirt, she was wearing a pair of denim shorts
and white sneakers that I could have sworn she only got yesterday. She was deadly quiet
with her edgy brown eyes, straight stern face, and slight impatient frown that screamed to
me how much she didnt want to be here. Meanwhile, I knew how bossy she could be at
times, especially when it came to handling those little monsters, and she was always a
passive-aggressive nightmare. On top of that, she was definitely a clock-watcher, just
painfully watching each minute slowly creep along, looking at it like she only wished it
was physically possible to murder time. If I did that, I would have gone on a headbanging spree knowing how slow time seems to go when you do that.
The last camp supervisor to enter the car was Mark Sullivan, who obviously
didnt care about his yellow Camp Brigham shirt considering all the holes and tears it
had. Meanwhile, he wore gray, ragged cargo pants and two black sneakers that he had
been using for years. While I was annoyed at todays trip, Mark was truly bored and
uninterested in any of this crap. This guy always showed up late to everything and
knowing him, he would way rather be spending his time partying or playing that Pledge
of Steel first person shooter on his GameSprint console. His raven-black hair was down
to his shoulders, and I could tell he was just going to coast today and let other people
handle the more important stuff. In all, Mark was mostly a guy who liked to have fun and
enjoy a good time, and being here was blasphemy to that.
As Al got into the drivers seat of the bus, he stuck his head out the drivers side
window, smiled, and signaled to me with the motion of his sweaty, hairy gorilla arm that
we were ready to start moving along. If I still had another brick after smacking Alexs

butt, I would have laughed mechanically as I smacked Al right in his stupid face with the
second one. But so much for imaginative thinking.
When the bus started moving, I turned the engine on, sent the air conditioner
settings as close to Antarctica as possible, and prepared to follow the camp bus and all its
carbon monoxide-releasing travesty to society. As we pulled out of the dirt lot and left
that run down, dilapidated campground behind, we then headed uphill on the dirt path
through the rocky area until we finally reached the local roads and presented ourselves to
the morning traffic and showed them how much Camp Brigham epically fails at life. It
was tempting to stray behind to make it appear to everyone else that we werent actually
associated with the camp. However, these stupid shirts didnt really help us with that
critical mission objective.
I put in my MP3 tape deck adapter and was ready to turn on my MP3 player to
amp up the car blasting with music when Sarah just sighed and threw a fit.
Ken, come on, She detested, watching my hand like it was a skittering roach.
Not that thrash metal crap again. You played it last time and I couldn't stand it.
"Sarah, my mind can't tolerate pop music without crippling amounts of
medication, and pop music is just about all the radio plays," I told her, even knowing on
top of everything else, Al's car barely got anything besides static if we were lucky.
Just let him play it, Mark griped. Its better than hearin the car brakes scream
every five seconds.
She then turned around to face the backseat and gave him that signature, foul
attitude she was known for.
Shut up, Mark, Sarah snapped at him like a pissed-off cat. Trust me, I don't
even want to know what your taste in music is like.
I just threw the idea of it down. It helped release my nerves, but I knew the
speakers in this old metal carcass barely even played the music in the first place. But in
any case, trying to win an argument with her was like trying to keep your butt on a piping
hot barbecue grill.
"Fine, I'll just use my earbuds," I told her, whipping them out. "Works for
everyone."
Dont even talk to me, Ken, Sarah snapped back at me. You want to listen to
Neanderthals scream bloody murder like theyre getting their faces stabbed with a steak
fork, you can go on ahead. I'm done arguing.
And so the passive aggressive detector was in full alarm mode now. She'd give me
that look if I turned it on, but would make it look like it was my doing to keep it off. I just
kept quiet, despite how much I hated that stereotypical comment about my music. One
minute, she throws a tantrum about the whole freaking thing, and the next, suddenly we
have to put up with her crabby mood. I just kept following the camp bus, blasting through
horribly-timed yellow lights and keeping a close tailgate to avoid other people cutting me
off to get in back of the bus. Eventually we made it to the off ramp, where we would
begin the hideously long ride down Interstate 10 West toward Echo Canyon.
With no surprise, the dusty highway was very light in traffic, probably because
they knew we were coming and wanted nothing to do with it. We were in store for one
heck of a boring ride with nothing to look at but rocks, dying vegetation, and the dusty
highway ahead.

We needed to get off at Exit 153A, and as I saw the sign for Exit 254 slowly pass
on by, I knew in the back of my mind that I would have the disdainful pleasure of
watching every highway exit sign slowly and painfully move along, knowing I was going
to a place I really didnt want to go to, and that I was going to have to drive all of this
over again on the ride home when I was exhausted from a day that certainly wouldnt end
too soon.
Fifty minutes later, my eyelids were drooping, my butt was getting sore and tried,
I had taken my earbuds out because it was actually starting to bother my ears, and my
hands were feeling weak and limp. Sarah had fallen asleep, Jeff had been staring into
space looking out the window, and Mark was texting the entire planet on his smartphone
and playing games at max volume. The scenery in back of the bus never changed, all I
ever saw was kids jumping around, pushing each other, and throwing stuff out the
windows. I was half asleep in a zombie lull state of driving when suddenly I heard Sarah
panic.
Ken, you idiot, you didnt check the gas before we left, did you? She suddenly
snapped at me, still annoyed from before.
Just before I was about impulsively bark back at her and tell her how wrong she
was, I actually took the time out to look at the needle first before giving her a "told ya so"
opportunity, and long and behold, the needle was right on E. I was ready to stuff my
sneaker down Als throat for not refilling his own stupid car with gas, but then again, it
was somewhat my fault for not mentioning it when we were back at camp.
Sure, I could have potentially gotten gas before getting on the highway if I really
cared about the welfare of this car, but obviously now it was too late. Still, at the moment,
while running out of gas, calling a tow truck, and going home early actually sound like
fun compared to this, it wasnt going to earn us a dime. And if I was going to let that
happen, I might as well have never came. I didnt wake up at 5:30 AM and drive two
hours down here for nothing.
I pulled out my smart phone and called Al, who I listed as "Anusface" on the
directory. I felt like a moron for having to do this but it had to be done.
Ya, ya, Ken, Al greeted me on the phone while the kids on the bus were
screaming the annoying Always About Me song from that dumb Chase the Chipmunk
kids movie as loudly as their lungs would allow in the background. Whats up, partner?
Man, I hated it when he called me that.
Were running out of gas, I told him bluntly, hoping to get this over with
quickly. "I'll take the next ramp and catch up later."
Ah ha, but didnt you check the gas before we left? Al asked, still trying to
sound cute in front of the kids.
I was annoyed, enough to feel like hanging up and driving this hunk of garbage
right around. Or better yet, pull over and set the whole thing on fire, if I had the cheap
liquor, rag, and lighter to do it.
I hated getting a talking to by this inane fatso for screwing up one little thing that
really should have been on him in the first place. Pulling over to a gas station was only a
few moments away and this guy would have us run out of gas just from an annoying
conversation about responsibility and all that crap.
I assumed the tank was full for the long ride ahead so I didnt check, I told him,
knowing technically he should have been the one to fill up his own clunker.

Well, now, Ken He continued rambling on again, you cant always assume
something like that. You always have to make sure you have enough gas for the ride
ahead and that all preparations are done before you
Not a chance I was putting up with this kind of moronic lecture again.
Okay, I got it, I interrupted him, thinking of an idea. Look, Ill take the next
exit and find a gas station. You go on ahead and well meet you at the parking lot. Its
Exit 153A, I know where to go. I freaking live in Phoenix for crying out loud, Ive been
there before.
Well, okay, Ken, Al replied, still trying to sound cheery. I guess Ill see you
then. Just remember to be nice in front of the--
I turned the phone off and put it away in a cup-holder, really not at all caring
about whatever stupid lecture Al wanted to continue spewing out of his pie-hole. I
checked the mirrors and slowly made my way through the lanes on my right to head for
the next exit. It was pretty easy considering barely anyone was behind me or even paying
attention to a car that was so incredibly uninteresting. To me, I tried to look at this
optimistically, thinking I found the perfect way to bail out of this annoyance of having to
trail behind the slow-moving bus the entire trip and wouldnt be part of this idiotic
convoy thing Al liked to have.
We probably had enough gas to take us to the station, but nothing more. I
immediately took the next exit, I didnt even look to see which one it was. I had headed
up the onramp and didnt think anything of it, figuring the signs were all I needed. The
long turn lasted a few seconds later, bearing right around the curved bend that had a metal
guardrail on the left side. We headed up for a little while, just waiting to see when wed
get to the main road and find a gas station to fix this stupid mess.
And then the weirdest thing happened just as we were heading upward. I just
blacked out and was completely blinded for a moment with white, hazy light. That was it,
I didnt see the freaking road at all anymore. I was totally in a flash of ambiguity, and
then when everything slowly came back to me, I drove the car right into a tree. That was
the next thing I saw. A freaking tree.
The already dying sedan ultimately bit the dust as the whole front of the car
smashed against the massive trunk of the tree, blasting the windshield outward and
sending the glass spilling all over the hood and across the tree trunk, bathing the grass
around it with millions of tiny glass pieces. After nearly freaking slamming my face into
the steering wheel and realizing this thing wasnt even equipped with airbags, I just sat
there with my jaw hanging open in wincing pain, totally shocked with what I just saw in
front of me. The sudden lurch was now killing my chest and my butt a little, but
thankfully, I was okay for the most part and not bleeding all over the place.
Holy... freakin', Mark blasted out in miserable surprise, What the heck jus
happened?
Oh my god! Sarah asked in shock. Is everyone alright!?
Yeah, yeah Im fine, I assured her, knowing my face and chest hurt a bit but it
was nothing I couldnt shake off in time.
Ive had worse, Mark replied, cluing us in that he's been in a car wreck at least
once before. "Trust me, my friend James really knows how to total a car."
I couldnt move for a few seconds, still trying to get my bearings. When I looked
up, the font hood was bent up, the front bumper, grill, and radiator was crushed in and

surrounding the tree, and I just watched the black smoke rise up from the hood as the car
let out its last hiss of death. I couldnt even think at that moment, the car was completely
totaled.
I threw open the door to this wreck, not even caring if I broke it off this time.
Screw fixing Als hideously butt-ugly car totally without gas, tools, or care. And I sure
wasnt a mechanic and I was not about to even try for this mobile trash can. This thing
was gone and hopeless, there was no other word for it.
The whole front of the car was crushed in like a plastic cup, and I knew that I was
now going to have the fun of trying to explain what the heck just happened. I didnt even
know for sure, although I had a bad feeling it was because I dozed off after driving for so
freaking long. Still, I figured Al and whatever insurance company wasnt going to take
flash of strange light weirdness as an answer. Dozing off seemed like the only real
answer. And if he got on my case just for running out of gas, holy crap, I seriously did not
want to have to deal with him about this.
This was beautiful, I could definitely say adios to today's paycheck and look
forward to spending money to fix this unholy machine instead. But when I calmed down
and realized this old smashed up sedan probably wasnt worth anything more than an
easily paid $250 for a blue book value, I was able to think a bit more clearly.
Oh man, ya really trashed Als car! Mark replied as he got out and got a better
look at it, laughing about it and enjoying the amount of damage to the front. Dude, geez,
look at this! I mean, it looks really bad, but yeah, I doubt this car is really worth anythin
with over a hundred thousand miles on it.
Try a hundred and eighty thousand, I replied with a bit more relief as I checked
the millage on this stupid thing, feeling even better that this car wasnt worth much more
than what a septic truck hauls away. I swear, my grandmother could have been driving
this to her junior prom.
The two of us laughed it off for a little while, while Jeff and Sarah just sat there
totally bewildered at what happened. Whatever, this kind of thing happens all the time.
Still, when it came to everything else that was around us, I hadn't even been
paying much attention to it. It wasn't until after I stopped looking at the damage to the car
that I started noticing that everything around us was fertile, like we were in a freaking
temperate zone instead of an Arizona desert. It didnt make the slightest bit of sense. I got
an even better look behind the car and there was no indication that I had even driven
through the grass all the way. I saw two trails of flattened grass behind the wheels for
about fifteen feet, but after that, there wasnt anything when there should have been.
What the heck I asked the others as I searched behind the car. Wait, what
happened to the exit ramp?
It got a little weird as I looked out further. Okay, I knew that if I dozed off and
slammed through the metal guardrail, which I could have sworn I didnt since I would
have felt it and heard it break, I probably would have hit a rock or something off road
knowing thats pretty much how Arizona was. Or go riding into some desert plants or
whatever. But now I didnt see anything but a few grassy hills and a series of
mountains and valleys behind us, but Interstate 10 was just gone. Just totally freaking
gone. That was weird, I knew there was no way I could have gone that far off road in the
time from when I blanked out to when I finally woke up again. Something wasnt adding
up.

Man, that is weird, Mark said to me after getting out of the car, looking at the
same tire tracks I was looking at. How did ya do that?
I dont have a freaking clue, Mark, I replied to him. Man, I just spaced out for
a second and then bam, there was nothing to it.
That's nuts Mark said for a moment, still looking at the tracks in the grass.
You spaced out? I dunno man, I kinda felt somethin' back there myself. Kinda like a
weird blackin out an' all. Ya know, like when ya wake up from a really weird dream?
Whatever, so I wasnt the only one getting messed up hallucinations this morning
or feel like I got up way too early for this garbage. That still didnt explain how the heck
we got here in the first place.
I went back into the car, pulled out my Telrazor Silver smartphone and MP3
player out of the cup holder and prepared to give Al Gladieri a call that his car had finally
bitten the dust, wherever the heck he was by now. I was almost ready to laugh about it
and the reaction Al would have when he heard his car had been obliterated and the little I
actually cared now. Screw the lectures, I was quitting this job and getting something
within reasonable driving distance. Heck, I'd rather whip up caramel cappuccinos for
annoying hipsters than deal with this.
But when I turned on the phone, I got an even weirder reaction after looking at the
screen. Not a single bar of reception. Now that was bizarre, I always had at least two bars
even underground with this thing. But we were like in freaking broad daylight here, I
didnt see what the problem was. And then there was that fact I had just called Al minutes
ago about the gas and there wasnt a problem.
Yep, figures, I nearly laughed. I cant even call Al to tell him his zombie car
was put out of its misery. I dont get any freaking reception here whatsoever.
It's a cheap phone, Jeff told me. You're not going to get much out of it.
No way, man, I replied to him, trying to think smart about it. I swear Ive
always had good reception here, something's screwy. I was able to call him a few minutes
ago, theres no way that signal would have dropped just like that. And we're outside, this
should be easy.
That still didnt explain what was going on. Meanwhile, Sarah was the last to
have left the car, leaving the car doors open and the lights on to help the battery kill itself
to give misery a little company. As for Mark, he was getting his own smartphone out to
see if his would work over mine.
Okay, I hope someone remembered what exit we're on, but knowing you guys, I
bet you forgot, Sarah told the three of us. Let's just call Al and get a tow truck. I don't
want to spend the rest of the week talking about this stupid incident."
Ha, yeah, Mark laughed a bit, looking toward Sarah. Well, hate to say it, but I
aint gettin anythin for reception on my phone either. By the way, Ive been lookin over
these tire tracks with Ken here and it looks like we popped out in this joint from the
middle of freakin nowhere. I mean look, what happened to the exit ramp an' the
highway? We still cant figure that one out. I can look for miles over here an' I don't see a
trace of it.
Sarah had a look at the tire tracks themselves, and the whole thing about it
bothered her too. Meanwhile, she also noticed there was no trace of the highway
anywhere. Then, she looked up at the sun in the sky and it got even more bizarre.

Is it just me or does it look like it's late afternoon? Sarah asked the rest of us,
looking up toward the sky. I mean, the sun looks like its about to set.
Can't be, Jeff replied doubtfully before having a look at it now himself, But... I
think you're right.
"That's impossible," Mark laughed. "Guys, that crash didn't knock our lights out
all day. Trust me, I know what that's like."
I quickly checked my watch to see if even that was the case, and I saw it
definitely wasnt anywhere near the afternoon. I mean heck, there was no way that could
have been a sunrise either, and I knew the sun was already up while I had been driving. I
had 8:54 AM for the time, and yet, Sarah was kind of right. That sun was going down, it
was getting darker, and for some weird reason, I could swear there was actually a little
glint of light blue to it now, which was another weird thing. I was wondering if my eyes
were going berserk when I saw that, or if that was because I had gotten up too freaking
early this morning.
Guys, my watch still says it's 8:54 in the morning, I told the three of them,
looking at the sky. The only places that would be having a sunset are probably in Russia
and China. Any other guesses as to what happened?
Why are you asking me like I know everything? Sarah asked me with a snippy
attitude, not even giving me eye contact. I dont know where we are either.
Beautiful. No, this was just too weird. Nether Marks phone or my phone had any
reception, we had the weird time zone offset, and I had no way to explain how we even
got here or where the heck we ended up slammed against a tree. But even then, we were
still stranded. I would have loved to know what the heck we were supposed to do now.
Still, I just headed to the trunk of the car, unlocked the back, threw the trunk door
open, and found my black duffle bag among all the other worthless junk that Al Gladieri
kept in the back of his car. I just pulled the bag out and screwed the rest, if Al wanted his
junk back, he could come here and get it himself.
Chances were he would be waiting at Echo Canyon for us to arrive and we would
never come. I loved the thought of it. Big, dumb Al, having to control a whole horde of
monstrous, impatient kids all by himself along with Dave and Carla, both of whom
couldn't give any less of a care about what they were doing and wouldnt help Al even if
he was bleeding out. And as for those kids, no way would their parents drive all the way
up from Tucson to get there either. Hed sit there for hours before trying to do something
while entertaining the brats. And hed try to call me but Id never receive it. Priceless.
Too bad I couldnt see it all happen from a distance.
I ripped off this worthless and abysmally stupid Camp Brigham t-shirt and threw
it in the trunk. Then, I grabbed the gray Snake Lash t-shirt in my bag and threw it on. It
was pretty much a gray shirt except for the bands insignia on the front, with a cobra
coiled around an electric guitar and the words Snake Lash: Viridian Venom. Words
cant describe how much I hated that idiotic yellow shirt. Ripping that thing off felt like
removing a straightjacket of stupidity.
I was just about rejoin the rest of the group when I noticed they were looking at
some weird flying insects giving off a bright purple glow. I got closer to them, and they
were just looking at them with the weirdest look in their eyes. Sarah held out her finger
for one of them to land on, and when one finally did, we realized it looked like a glowing
six-winged butterfly.

What in the heck are these things? Mark asked, looking closely at the one
sitting on Sarahs finger. Since when do butterflies glow?
Its quite pretty, Sarah remarked as she just continued looking at it. "I've never
seen anything like this one before."
Jeff just gave it a weird glance, while Mark was a little freaked out at the whole
sight of glowing butterflies and Sarah was just enticed with them. As for me, whatever.
Seeing the sunset before 9 AM was just something I was never used to.
It makes no sense, Jeff stated, looking at the blue-winged butterfly on Sarahs
finger. Something's wrong here."
Yeah, man, Mark agreed, looking at the rest of them softly fluttering around.
Thats pretty trippy. Unless these things are throwin radioactive particles around, dont
mind me sayin but I think weve officially left the whole freakin planet behind. This
place is totally out of whack an' my brain's startin' to hurt.
I honestly didn't know what to think of it or if I even really cared all that much. It
was weird though. In any case, I didn't feel like standing around this car wreck waiting
for nothing.
Jeff was just looking at the butterflies with a look of doubt in his eyes, Mark was
looking like he was trying to fight off a reality check, while Sarah oddly enough just
looked like she was ready to accept that. Meanwhile, I just stood there completely by
myself lost in my own words.
Come on, people, lets get moving, I told the rest of them after a weird silence,
If we just backtrack, we might still find the road. I know this all looks pretty stupid, but
Im sure theres a logical reason for it. Ill admit, I was tired, I was barely awake, I hate
this job, and-
Ken, I know it sounds stupid to a guy like you, Sarah spoke up, looking at me in
the eyes as she interrupted me, But I have a feeling Mark is right. If were not in
Arizona, then where in gods name are we? Where are we that we pop out of no where,
hit a tree, suddenly dont receive any communication signal with your phone and Marks
phones with providers that are supposed to have a global network, speed twelve hours
ahead, and find glowering butterflies I swear to god have never been scientifically
classified before?
And it looked like an epic fail for science. She was right, it sounded too stupid
and I really didn't know what to tell her. My mind was wrecked, and I didn't feel like
adding up logic or theories all day. Or all night from the looks of it now.
Yeah, great, I shrugged sarcastically, not really sure how to take that. Lets just
go and find something that can take us out of this out of this cesspool disguised as a
fairytale. The sooner this whole stupid thing is over with, the happier I'll be.
Yet, again, no one said a freaking thing. I didnt get it, what was so wrong with
what I was saying? Fine, I knew I couldnt explain what happened to Als stupid car or
how we got here, but I wasnt going to dwell on it. Let forensics deal with that crap if
they really wanted to. I just wanted to figure a way out of it.
Dont mind me saying, Ken, but I think you just hit the proverbial nail on the
head, Sarah replied to me.
Thank you, I replied to her, hoping she was seeing the light of it all. Now
come on, I'm not getting younger here..

No She tried to correct me. You're not listening. Think about what you and
Mark said. The... 'cesspool disguised as a fairytale' thing. Ken, Mark's right, this couldnt
possibly be Earth. Nothing is right or adds up about all this. Ken, you dont end up in the
middle of a forest from driving off an exit ramp on Interstate 10, lose all cell phone
reception, and end up in a different time zone. With glowing butterflies. That, among all
the other obvious signs. Ken, did you look up at the sky yet? I'm seeing four moons up
there.
"That might be a fifth one, I think," Mark replied, pointing up.
I decided to look up and yeah, neither of them were kidding. It was like some
ridiculous dream yet it wasn't. Most of it seemed like earth, but there was plenty of it that
was obviously not by a long shot. I just decided to let it sink in that the denial game was
just a losing bet at this point.
"Think... maybe we're dead?" Mark asked.
I figured I probably would have seen my mangled, gored corpse still in my car
seat if that was the case, but I've seen car accidents like that before and most of the time
people come out with nothing more than a bump or a scratch and a pissed off attitude
about a raised premium. I was on an exit only going about 25 or 30 miles an hour
anyway.
In the meantime, it didn't feel like a dream either. I mean heck, I never dream
about Sarah, Jeff, and Mark and certainly not Al's car unless Al is some deranged, flesheating zombie and I have to run him over with it. I actually liked that dream, honestly.
"Alright, let's just forget about the car and find someone who can help us out
here," I told the rest of them, knowing sitting around here for eternity was probably a bad
idea.
Fine, I think thats fair, Sarah told me, letting loose that little radioactive
butterfly. Lets go then.
I let loose a quick sigh of disbelief and just headed down, taking my duffle bag
with me. We left Als ruined car behind as a new condominium for rats, skunks, and other
such friendly forest creatures and headed down the hill, having really no idea where we
were headed or where we were. But the whole time, I couldnt help but think about how
stupid this all sounded. And even Mark, I mean come on. Usually a guy like him remains
sane even around people like Sarah.
Chapter 2 The Race Against Time
We crept further down the hill, and I saw quite a few other sights that completely
failed a reality check with me. I saw a few more glowing bugs that I knew for a fact were
too large to be fireflies, and patches of bizarre plants, flowers, and mushrooms I had
never seen before in my life that were also capable of illuminating things. Seriously
though, I had no clue what we were dealing with here. And again, there was no sign of
Interstate 10 West, but I figured by now I would be senile to keep looking for it. It wasn't
there, this wasn't Earth.
Do you even know where youre going, Ken? Sarah asked me, wondering what
I was doing by walking in front of everyone else.
Well, if youve been here before, Sarah, I told her sarcastically, just walking in
a straight direction to find anyone or anything, by all means, lead the way. I figured all

directions have to lead somewhere. I doubt anyone is ever going to find us by that car
wreck.
And yet, I knew she didnt know where we were, simply because she was totally
quiet about it. We continued for the longest time until I saw a faint glow in the distance. It
didnt look like anything much at first but as we crept closer, I could have sworn some of
those structures looked like houses. Definitely werent anything like the modern day kind
I was used to seeing around Phoenix, but I was willing to settle with it. It was a town.
Someone smart and competent enough to understand architecture was over there and I
was willing to settle with it.
Looks promising I told the other three, pointing toward the small town,
These people might know how to get out of here.
Yeah right, not by a long shot, Sarah replied quickly, Ken, look at it for five
seconds. I can name twenty different things wrong with it."
And then it became like one of those "circle what's wrong" kid pictures where you
had to identify all the screwy things that made a blasphemy out of realty. The houses
were pretty old fashioned, like dating back to some medieval civilization kind of style.
That was the first sign of weirdness. Then the weird blue glows here and there. Then
there was some animal pen with livestock that looked like a cross between a bull and a
rhino.
I would have liked to believe and be totally convinced she had been dropped on
her head at childbirth, but no, she was actually right here. From throwing a fit in the car,
getting annoyed at me for no reason, and now believing we were lost in some fairytale, I
liked to think she was crazy, but here, the fairytale thing was actually very plausible.
And then bam, to nuke the already mangled corpse of the belief that we were just
side-tracked back on Earth, we saw it. Sarah almost start cracking up in laughter, while
Mark and Jeff just stopped and look at it like they just saw a ghost.
I freaking swear, none of this trash makes sense, I told the three of them, totally
disbelieving what I was seeing.
Neither do I, man, but its there Mark told me, still staring.
What I saw was a whole town of bipedal feather-winged foxes with five tails and
wild, brushed-back hairstyles. I looked up and saw some of them even lived in the trees,
as if there was another whole freaking town up there also. And some of them were black,
brown, white, and even a few dark red and dark blue ones as well, although for all of
them, the fur around their mouth and chest was always white. Every one of them was
about three feet tall, but the weird thing was they even wore clothing.
"Well?" Sarah asked, almost laughing. "Go on, Ken, ask if they know a way out of
here."
Ha, ha, very funny. Meanwhile, Sarah was just giving me this look of how slow I
was to come to illogical conclusions. I was totally annoyed and freaked out at the same
time. But whatever? Considering the little that I had seen already, I guess now it was time
to expect just about any kind of unbelievable weirdness this place could concoct.
Okay, fine, whatever Sarah, I told her, finally hoping she would shut up about
this and we could get on with things. I was convinced this isnt Earth a while ago. I'll
ask 'em and hopefully they'll show us the exit. Fast.

Really? She told me, looking a heck of a lot better than she did before we
left. Wow, Ken, you sure are in a hurry to get back to the bus meet up with Al again.
Still trying to salvage the day trip?
Holy cow, that was not what I meant.
"Heck no," I told her. "More like get back home and find a better job, really. I'd
rather cook French fries for hours than get reminded of this whole car incident from Al."
I just hate it when things get complicated and its so freaking hard figure anything
out. The only thing I could do now was just accept this lunacy for as long as I was here,
whether it included warped reality, winged foxes, glowing butterflies, radioactive
flowers, and whatever else this place decided to vomit out at us like rainbow unicorns
that liked to kick people in their crotch and then sing the national anthem of Japan for all
we knew.
Anyway, Sarah told the rest of us what was pretty obvious right now. we're
obviously in a whole different world now. Something on the exit ramp popped us in here.
Calling it 'magic' might sound stupid, but obviously it wasn't science."
Not like I trusted science with anything anyway.
She's right, Jeff said in a low tone, still feeling a bit weird like I was. It's not
your fault, Ken, but don't try to apply logic to this.
And yet, it seemed like she was okay with that. So, all four of us took the rotting
carcass of what we knew reality to be, tossed it out the window like a cigarette, pissed
kerosene all over it, and set the whole thing on fire. Portal, teleport, whatever, I didnt
care. Something brought us in here and that was the end of it. Punching babies or
smashing glass wasnt going to do anything about it this time.
Fine, Sarah, we'll say it was magic, I told her on a whole new tangent. I really
dont care.
Well, thank goodness, its about time you see it, Sarah replied, rolling her eyes.
You're welcome, I sighed with sarcasm, I just want to get back to Phoenix. Not
asking for a whole lot here."
That was pretty much it. As dumb and ridiculous as it sounded, that was all we
had to work with. What I didnt want to mention was how the heck we were going to
survive the whole time here with barely anything but the clothes on our backs and
American dollars that probably didn't mean anything to the people of... whatever this
place was. It could be weeks or even months before we figured out what happened and
how we could get back.
I get what youre saying, Sarah replied to me, keeping a straight expression.
And honestly, it makes sense. We have no direction as to where we are, so this is where
we start. It might be better to become familiar with our surroundings before we actually
try finding the answer to getting home.
Right, I told her, glad we were finally coming to some agreement here after all
the modern warfare we had earlier. Approach a few of them, ask who is in charge, and
get as many details as we can. Be prepared for anything at this moment.
And hope they spoke our language. Yeah right. I was just hoping these animals
wouldn't look at the four of us and think "food!" or "kill!" Maybe I should pick up one of
these thick, blunt weapon-like branches just in case...
And there we started. I turned back toward the fox town, and headed toward it. I
caught sight of two of them dressed like males by a wheelbarrow next to a small cottage

with light coming from the square window, and I approached the two of them, ready with
hands to punch and strangle if necessary. The first had black fur with frizzy hair and wore
some pretty beat-up overalls while the other had brown and looked a bit more on the
younger side, wearing an old brown shirt made of cloth and black linen pants.
When they saw us, they suddenly looked shocked like someone dumped cola on
their heads in the middle of dinner. They looked at each other and made quick yelping
and light barking and chirping sounds. The black one with the overalls suddenly ran off
and went back into town for whatever reason. Probably to alert the others and prepare for
battle, as always.
"So, what did the fox say?" Sarah asked.
"He said he hates Camp Brigham t-shirts and he's asking his friend here if he
knows a good lawyer," I told her sarcastically. "Heck if I know, I didn't understand any of
that yapping."
I was right about the language barrier here. This place was on the verge of being a
waste of time and I figured we might just be better spending the night in Al's car until
morning, which I was hoping wouldn't be in like ninety-four hours or so to whatever
planet we were on.
Sarah sighed, realizing things werent going to be so easy. Still, despite how much
I looked at Mark and Jeff, they always looked like they had seen much worse than this,
however that was possible. Shrugging, it wasnt long until the black fox came back,
running with another older-looking gray fox guy following him, barely able to keep up
the pace. Grandpa here seemed to like linen also, wearing black pants and a white
buttoned down shirt.
He started lightly speaking, almost sounding like a purring sound while making a
strange motion with his paw. Then, all of a sudden, I suddenly heard what seriously
sounded like a firecracker pop go off in my freaking ear following by a brief ringing
sound. When that all died down and I was surprised I wasn't dead or had a migraine, the
weirdest thing happened.
"Can you... hear me now?" The old-timer fox asked me in a calm and kindly
voice.
What, now he talked?
"Yeah, but..." I told him, trying to figure this all out, "what... did you just do to my
ear?"
"Don't be alarmed, it's just a simple 'Universal Translator' spell, really," He told
me, showing he meant no harm even though it sounded like a gun went off in my ear.
"We use it for newborns and newcomers alike, though almost everyone in Marsaras has it
by now. It helps translate all spoken and written words into the native language you
understand, and vice versa. Trust me, without it, having so many scores and heaps of
written and spoken languages would be a nightmare, ha!"
Yeah, now if only we could get something like this on Earth so I wouldn't have to
be hunched over in Spanish class trying to figure out what "tarde" and "noche" meant.
Although I was beginning to wonder if maybe that was the case and I didn't need to think
about people talking behind my back in Spanish about how awful my t-shirt was.
In any case, was this seriously a spell? As in some kind of crazy magic or voodoo
actually existed here?

"Grandpa, are those Fluxeons?" the little brown and white one curiously asked the
elder in an almost cute, child-like foxy voice.
"Humans actually," I told the little one. "Name's Ken. We just got here and... yeah,
we have no idea where we are."
"Well, you're both right," Fox Gramps told the both of us. "We don't use the term
'humans' however, although the terms 'human' and 'Fluxeon' are one in the same. My
name is Ravi, one of the elders of this town, and you've already met Sal and Lorin here.
This is our town of Jadehill, home to many families of Kettun. We don't get too many
visitors here, especially not Fluxeons. In fact, as long as I've been around, you're only the
second group of Fluxeons I've ever seen."
Seriously, a second group of humans were here before us? This just kept getting
weirder. I mean, the town was small and didn't exactly stick out as being really obvious,
but how the heck did other people end up here too?
"Unfortunately... there's a reason why Fluxeon appearances are very rare," Ravi
told us, scratching his chin with his paw, probably having a tough time trying to tell us
this. "They never remain Fluxeons for long."
So just shoot me. Well, that sure was pretty unsettling. I was guessing us
Fluxeons bit the dust quite often around here? I wasnt looking forward to dying
around here, thats for sure.
Uh Mark told Ravi with some hesitation. What do ya mean by that exactly?
But, before we got an answer from Ravi, he looked to Sal and Lorin, smiling at
them.
"You two should run along now, I'm sure dinner is almost ready," Ravi told them
with a smile. "I just have a few things to discuss with them."
"Okay, Grandpa, see you soon!" Lorin replied, running along with Sal.
That bad, huh? It was always a great sign when adults had to pull the kiddies
away from the bad news that was about to be shoveled out. He then looked back at us,
and seemed a little sheepish about telling us what was to come next.
"The truth is..." Ravi told us, knowing we really weren't going to like what we
were about to hear, "...Fluxeons have extremely high tendencies to change race. Our
world of Marsaras is brimming with magic. Since Fluxeons are not native to this world,
they have no natural defenses or resistance to it. It causes them to be altered, changed,
and transformed into other races and creatures very easily."
Still waiting for someone to shoot me. So how the heck were we supposed to
avoid it, or was that totally impossible? This just kept getting better and better.
"You're kidding," I told him, even though I knew he really wasn't just from the
look on his fox face. "What causes that?"
"It can happen to any Fluxeon through the simplest of things," Ravi sighed.
"Eating or drinking anything in Marsaras is probably the most common cause for Fluxeon
transformation. Besides that, a cut, scrape, or sting from an animal, insect, or plant can
cause it also. Even just exposing a Fluxeon to a certain type of pollen, dust, or gas can
trigger a racial change. And... that's just the start of it. There's at least a hundred possible
races a Fluxeon could become from just simple things."
Great, this was a pretty clear indication the four of us would either have to be
ultra paranoid or just say screw it, let it happen, and surprise the folks back home.
Definitely not crazy about that, and I knew I could do ultra paranoid pretty well already,

so I figured try ultra paranoid first, and then freak people out as the backup option. To
me, letting it happen willingly would have been an excessively stupid decision
considering we were trying to get the heck out of here and not actually take anything
from this whacked out experience with us. What, go back to Phoenix as a bunch of
freaks? Not happening. If any of us got hit with anything, forget it, we were going to have
to stay here longer to find a way to cure it. Boy, as if I needed to have this extent of feces
shoveled right in my face when I least suspected it. But I figured why not ask since we
were on such a roll already this evening?
Any cures for it? I couldnt help but ask. I honestly expected a big fat no
considering how our stream of luck had turned out, but I might as well be sure.
"If there are, I sure don't know of too many," Ravi replied, shaking his head.
"There's a small handful of ones that are covered, but they're almost unreasonably
expensive cures. Not worth the money to become Fluxeon again only to become
something else in due time. Sorry to say, Fluxeons are just really weak against magic."
I swore, we must have hit Cesspool Jackpot Grand Prize tonight. Now all we
needed was for this Ravi guy to whip out an assault rifle, throw on a Kettun ski mask,
hold us hostage, and then life would be complete and we could never complain that we
didn't get to see and do everything in life.
How the devil we were supposed to get out of here in time before anything like
that happened? If we were lucky, we maybe had three days before any of us hit
something, provided we could find untainted food around here. Considering how the fox
people around here were staring at us like we were in chains on death row, we definitely
had less than a week to pull this off. I could feel it. Heck, Sarah was lucky that
radioactive butterfly hadn't already turned her into something weird.
Well, theres one thing I dont get, man, Mark spoke up after being silent for a
while. How were we pulled from our world to this Marsaras one? And why did it
happen?
"To the best of my knowledge, I think it was a Celestial Rift," Ravi told him,
thinking it over. "It's another spell, only its long-range form is broken. It's an already
complicated spell that only a few mages know. It works well if you're just traveling from
one Marasaras location to another. But if you try to reach across to another world so, so
far away, it breaks and causes invisible portals to be scattered on whatever world the
mage was trying to reach. And whatever touches those portals gets pulled into
Marasaras."
Sarah was giving me looks again but I ignored it. I already knew she won this
stupid little game already. What I couldnt understand was how she was taking all of this
so lightly like it didnt mean a bloody thing to her. I mean come on, we only had a limited
amount of time to get out of here before something stupid happened to the four of us.
Maybe that didnt bother her but it sure bothered the heck out of me. She may be
laughing and giggling now but I knew for a fact she sure wasnt going to think it was
funny after she got turned into a mermaid or something like that and I had to lug her fishy
carcass around everywhere.
I just had to watch out for myself. Sarah didnt care what happened and that
wasnt my problem. As for Mark, I looked at him for a moment and he seemed a little
sheepish about it, but if it really did end up happening, he looked like he could handle it.
As far as Jeff goes, he was more with me. He didnt like the whole idea of this either and

he just didnt want to talk about it. Either that or I couldn't read him whatsoever. It was
often like that.
Alright, so what should we do now? I asked Ravi, trying to get on the right
track to get out of here as soon as possible. Whats your advice for some Fluxeons like
us? We'd just like to try and find a way home without any trouble.
"Lashira City's just south of here," Ravi told us, still looking doubtful on the
'without any trouble' part. "It's a big trade city and Jadehill is really just on the outskirts of
it. They'll probably have things that can help you or provide answers. If you... really want
to try your luck and stay Fluxeon for as long as you can, be extremely careful about your
choice of food and drink. But if you've given up on that, well, I wouldn't think less of
you."
"We game for Lashira?" I asked the others, thinking that was better than nothing.
"Yeah," Mark replied, giving it an easy shrug. "Guess so."
"Good, you should be able to reach it before nightfall," Ravi told us with a calm
smile. "But don't be afraid to come back if you need my help. Take care now."
"Cheers," I told him, still trying to wrap my head around all this stuff.
After he left, we just stood there, trying to grasp this whole situation. This was
definitely not crap I was having an easy time with, but so far the rational side of me was
just saying that around here, reality was a joke. Expect anything.
We then walked around outside and the strange sun was almost behind the trees
now. It still felt weird having it be this late, but that was probably the stupidest, littlest
thing right now going on compared to everything else. Heck, I had just talked to a
winged fox who told us our last days of humanity were just around the corner. When you
hear stuff like that, a weird sunset really isn't on your mind anymore.
As nice as Jadehill was in terms of hospitable Kettun foxes, it wasnt my kind of
place. Too freaking rural, and there was essentially nothing here but fox farmers that
probably wouldn't be the best people to ask when it came to busting out of this place.
While Lashira sounded riskier in the race-change area, finding someone who could help
us get home was way higher. I'd take my chances over wandering around aimlessly.
We eventually found our way out of town and located the cobbled stone path that
Ravi told us about. My watch compass was dead in the grave as well. I figured that was
probably better than it having have a spasm because it couldn't figured out what changed.
We started our way down the path as we watched the sun slowly disappear. Even
then, I couldnt get what Ravi said about humans changing races out of my head.
Anything could happen, heck, I figured it could even happen from a bug bite or
something so minor like that. It just meant we were going to have to be a lot more
careful.
The walk felt long as the path headed in through a thick forest on both
embankments, and the darker it got, the more we saw of those same glowing insects just
softly moving and flying through the air. This time, I didnt even dare touch them, and
when they drew closer, I walked a little more off to the side. If this Ravi guy was right,
Sarah was lucky she didnt get changed into anything through handling those butterflies.
Obviously they werent normal, but she seemed to like that.
This place is so amazing Sarah said to the three of us, looking at all the sights
in careless awe. I never thought I would see such a thing. Look at the stars and the way
the forest has this colorful, magical glow to it.

Yeah, well before you start that up again I warned her, knowing it was this
kind of carried away attitude that was going to get her screwed. Dont forget what Ravi
told us. We dont have a whole lot of time to get out of here if we dont want anything to
happen to us. And Id recommend not touching anything unless you have to.
For a minute, I thought the conversation was over. But, only after a few moments
of silence, she said something that made the Jeff, Mark and I just stop dead in our tracks.
I honestly dont care what happens, Sarah replied in a carefree tone.
We just stopped dead and stared at her as if she had suddenly turned into a flesheating zombie. Mark was just looking at her like she totally lost her mind. Meanwhile, I
wasnt too surprised knowing how psychotic she had become lately. But I just didnt
expect her to admit something like that so openly.
You arent serious, are you? Jeff responded with a look of doubt in his face,
staring Sarah like she was sick or something.
No, I am, Sarah replied, now looking at us like we were the ones who were
crazy. Considering how much of a realist you are, Jeff, Im surprised you havent
realized the truth. Contrary to Kens ideas, were not going to get out of here in a long
time, and something will be happening to each and every one of us before we come even
close to coming home. Youre chasing a blind hope, and theres a darn good reason why
weve never heard of this Marsaras place before. No ones ever made it back, cant you
tell?
Well, that was certainly a pessimist punch to the gut. I knew we might against
odds here but at least I saw a point in trying. Man, and I thought I was a cynic. I never
thought Sarah would actually be beating me for Round 2 in my own home field.
"That's great, Sarah," I told her sarcastically. "The faith and confidence you have
in us is just... wow. Way to be a team player."
Sarah, geez, Mark said to her, looking at her with a baffled look in his eyes. Ya
cant be thinkin of givin up already, are ya? I mean come on, girl, well try and get out
of here without any of us gettin affected, but hey, if it doesnt work out, well jus deal
with it an' all.
Exactly, I agreed with Mark on this. Trust me, if we stick this one out and
dont do anything stupid, well get out of here soon. Celestial Rift... heck, we already
know what did it. Doubt the other 'Fluxeons' that wandered into here even got to find that
out.
I mean seriously. For the longest time, I was never much of an optimistic person
but this... I felt surer about this than ever. Maybe because I wanted to get out of here that
badly. Get back home, find a better job that didn't involve stupid, bratty kids, and salvage
what was left of summer and hopefully see Credo of Shadow before the movie theaters
were no longer playing it. Still though, that didnt help Sarahs ballistic attitude.
Wow, you guys really didnt hear a word that fox guy said, did you? Sarah
asked, looking really annoyed now. People have tried to make Celestial Rifts back to
Earth but they failed, hence how we ended up here. If those wizards couldnt do it, then to
have any sliver of a chance of doing it ourselves, were going to have to become more
powerful wizards and mages than they are and do it ourselves. And that could take
years.
I didnt think about that I replied, feeling pretty sick at that moment.

Look, She told us frankly, becoming a little less disturbing in her attitude, I
know you guys are more concerned with us being in danger of having some racial change
but at this point, its beyond our control. Its going to happen sooner or later, just hope
you dont become something awful.
Not exactly words to feel inspired by, as if she was handing out losing lottery
tickets at the local hospice. I didn't know what to take from it or admit she was probably
right. After that, the conversation pretty much fell dead, the mood became horrible, and it
was left up to each of us to figure out what to actually get from it. With nothing really
else to do about it we kept walking with less vigor this time as it kept getting darker, but
oddly enough, the light from the five moons in the strange, starry sky was brighter than it
was on Earth.
I could actually see a decent amount of where I was walking with the bright,
white light from moons with different sizes, colors, and reflective phases. Two white and
pearly ones, a smaller, deep red one, and a large bluish-colored moon with a really tiny
orange one that Mark pointed out earlier. Freaking weird, no doubt there. Still though, in
the deeper parts of the forest that were along the path, it was pitch black. We could see
the road and a few trees off to our left and right but that was about it. Still looking up
at those moons again didnt exactly help support whatever argument I was putting up
earlier.
Eventually, we came to a clearing and there it was just beyond one of the hills.
Man, Lashira was freaking way bigger than I thought it was. This side of the forest
wasnt as fertile as the other and the grass was pretty much just barren plain now. But as
for the city itself, it was right along the coast on the right side of the city. Most of the
buildings were dome-shaped or had rounded edges and only a few of them got any taller
than three stories high. Many of them were made of a beige, tan, or white-colored clay
and just had square and rectangular holes in the walls for windows without any glass. It
reminded me a lot of those Arabian cities I saw in games and movies yet never saw in
real life. The kind that I really only saw during all those late nights playing Pledge of
Steel multiplayer for hours.
While Jadehill was just closing down for the night, it seemed like this place was
banging. Lots of lights, festive activity, and I could even hear faint sounds of music in the
air with woodwind and percussions instruments I've never heard before. Boy, was it
different, though. Definitely not my thing. Needed much more bass.
"That's gotta be it," I told the others, glad we were at least on the right track.
Ya really think we should just walk on in there? Mark asked the rest of us,
seeming a little unsure about it. Wed probably have a way better chance of gettin hit
with somethin while in there than out here.
Well, your choice, Mark, I told him, seeing no problem with it. I didn't pack a
hazmat suit with me. I have some food in this duffle bag but its no where near a full meal
for anyone and I guarantee we'll be out of food before the night is done. Second, we need
a place to sleep. And third, if were going to create a Celestial Rift back to Earth like
Sarah said we would need, well, wed better start learning this so called magic stuff
these people use and hope we can get really good at it.
And then I couldnt believe it, I got the oddest reactions from Jeff and Mark.
What, was it their turn to step up to the insanity plate? They gave me these funny looks
like I was talking nonsense.

I opting out, Jeff replied, looking uninterested. "I don't trust magic to anything."
Why not, it seems cool enough? I told him honestly, figuring beyond needing it,
we might as well enjoy it. I can at least give it a shot. And I have to start somewhere.
That is, unless you two have suddenly fallen in love with this zoo and think you'd like to
stay here.
Well Sarah muttered, seeming a little hesitant, honestly, I can agree with you
there, Ken. And besides, this isnt just for making a portal either. Were going to need to
defend ourselves.
I wasn't too keen on the whole "defend ourselves" part, although she was being a
realist about this. Something out there was bound to want our heads on a stick, or really
liked the way we tasted. Since I wasn't exactly carrying extra machine guns and rocket
launchers on me for everyone to enjoy, doing something about that might be ideal.
Still, as much as I finally liked getting Sarahs support for once, Mark and Jeff
sure didnt like the idea at all.
Yeah, sorry, but magic seems... weird, Mark replied in a low tone, seeming
pretty apprehensive about the stuff. I'd rather jus' stick with a weapon I'm familiar with
an' don't have to stuff my nose into a book to learn. Spent enough hours learnin' stupid
geometry last year.
Your loss, man," I shrugged, thinking magic just seemed too cool to just pass up.
"I guarantee it won't be nearly as boring as geometry."
But, he still didn't care, and this was a guy who would rather be up all night
spending hours of playing first person shooters or massively multiplayer online roleplaying games instead of reading books. Well, if that didnt make it pretty clear we had
our work cut out for us, I dont know what would. Sure, we could buy the training needed
for it, but it would only go so far. We didnt have months and months to learn this stuff,
we were just going to have to do a quick crash course and hope that the rest would come
naturally. And Sarah was right, our risk of coming face to face with a racial change was
higher in there. None of us were obviously ready for it.
But there still existed this idea in our heads that fighting the inevitable was
possible
Chapter 3 The Unknown City
After some debating, we headed into the city of Lashira, hoping there was some
kind of means to get started in there. When we made it to the entrance, there was a large
courtyard with five fountains, one really huge one in the center and four smaller ones off
to the sides forming a merged ring around the center fountain. Meanwhile, annoying loud
music was playing all over the place. Definitely a weird genre of its own, but if I had to
come up with one, it had the speed and pace of Mexican music with Jamaican and
African drums and classical woodwind instruments. I wasn't exactly itching to download
the soundtrack, that was for sure.
As for the citizens themselves, that was a whole thing in its own. I recognized the
Kettun foxes with wings. I figured a few of them would be preferring city life as opposed
to living on the outskirts in corn and country town, or whatever the heck they were
growing over there in those farm fields.

There were a few other races we saw as well. The first of these new races I saw
looked to be like humanoid birds, having feathered bodies with dark, dull colors like
brown, gray, and black. They also had large wings on their back with tail-feathers right
above the butt that dragged along the ground like a broom and had a long beak like a
stork. They didn't seem too much taller than the rest of us. I figured I'd call these guys
Birdmen. At least until I actually learned what pray tell they actually were.
And as we walked further into town, another race of humanoid critters that
seemed to work around here were Lizardmen. These guys, like the Kettun and the
Birdmen, also walked around on two feet, and that was about all these dudes had in
common. The Lizardmen had either brown or green scaly skin and long reptile tails that I
imagined had issues getting stepped on around here. They also had some pretty sharp
claws on their hands and spikes around their wrists and around the end of their tails. I
guess that was one effective way to avoid having people step on them on purpose.
Race number four, what I personally called the Cougarmen, looked to be like a
bunch of humanoid cats, some of them with tiger, cougar, or cheetah-like colored fur
patterns. Besides the kitty faces and ears, these guys also had a tail thing going on, only it
didn't drag around like the Lizardmen. They also seemed a bit taller than the average
human and most of them looked to be pretty tough.
And there were a bunch of others, but they didn't turn up nearly as much as these
guys. Most of them wore enough clothes to the point where it was actually not too hard to
dismiss the fact they weren't human, and you'd have to look right at their face or spot
their tail to tell what race they really were. Some of them wore robes, others some leather,
some of them were dressed in gray metal armor, and loads of other verities. Most of them
didn't care we were "Fluxeons," but there were a few that gave us a look before moving
on.
Yeah, Mark laughed, getting a kick out of the sights and sounds. Okay, now
Ive seen everythin.
"This place is a mess," Jeff responded, looking like every idea that involved this
place had to be a bad one.
Couldn't blame him, especially after what Ravi told us. Really didn't want to end
up like one of them, although there were a few that if it absolutely had to happen, it
wouldn't be too bad. I could maybe tolerate the Kettun or Cougarmen look. Others, like
the one I thought was a gray-skinned humanoid boar... just shoot me and bury me deep.
"So, what's the plan?" I asked the others, thinking this was just inane. "I know,
you don't want to touch magic. I heard that part."
We meet here in two hours, Jeff told Sarah and I, looking toward the large
fountain. You do your thing with magic, well do our own thing, and we'll see what we
can plan out. After we meet here, we decide on where to sleep."
Fine, two hours, I told him, confirming all that junk. "You got it."
Still, Jeff and Mark stepped into the crowd, and went off on their own. What they
planned on doing exactly was beyond me, but it was better than nothing. Then, I just
turned toward Sarah and decided what we should do next.
Well Sarah said with some hesitation, if were going to get anything, were
going to need money. I dont even think Jeff and Mark thought about that.

So, that meant either begging, trying to get a job, or stealing. This was just great, I
really didn't see how we were going to get anywhere around here like this, but I tried to
get inventive.
Ill see what we can do, I told her, looking around at the various shops and
stands selling truckloads of god-knows-what.
And then I figured just maybe someone might actually want to buy something I
had. I didn't have much, but I decided if I could get anything, it might be able to take us
somewhere. Meanwhile, as I was making my way through the crowd, Sarah tried to keep
up, making her way through the crowds of animalistic winged or tailed people of all sizes
and heights around here. So far, I counted at least twenty different kinds of races, but had
no clue what to call them besides the Boarmen or whatever earthly critter they most
seemed to be like.
After running through a weird bazaar of tents and peddlers selling all types of
strange and cool things that I didn't have a dime for, I saw something that could be of a
little help to our financial situation, I decided to go for it.
One of the vendors I caught sight of was a bigger than usual vendor stand set up
like a colorful midway game at a carnival, like most of the stands where, only this
Birdman guy actually looked rich. He also had a nicely designed wooden sign carved to
say TalRees Exchange." Actually, it was written in a whole other language, but thanks
to that translator spell, I was able to read it. After getting a good look at it, I saw that
people were selling their stuff there to get money. Yup, it was a pawn shop, only this guy
seemed to know what he was doing judging from the way his stand looked compared to
everyone else's. He probably had ways to pay little for what other people had and sell it
back to someone else for big bucks. I figured I might as well give this pawn shop a shot,
because I wasn't going to play dumb by searching for another one when this guy seemed
to be good enough.
I got on line and waited behind a guy who was a Lizardman that was dressed in
black leather and seemed to have an affinity for knives. Right in front of him appeared to
be another female Cougarman with tiger-colored fur and a tail that dangled behind her
butt. I quickly realized through the talk of the crowd that they were no longer accepting
cheap and common junk. Well, I wasnt quite sure if what I had on me was considered
"cheap and common," but I decided I was a heck of a lot better off if I at least tried.
Digging through my pockets, I figured what I had on me might be a start. Guess there
was no harm in trying to find out.
Then, after a few minutes of waiting impatiently and hearing felines and lizards
haggle, I came face to face with TalRee himself and one of his assistants. Tal'Ree, as a
Birdman, had a pure black feathered body with blue eyes and a tuft of feathers growing
out of his head. Meanwhile, he had two black wings coming out of his back with a bunch
of tail feathers growing out of his butt, going for the whole raven getup. Meanwhile, his
assistant looked like a maroon-colored gorilla, just a little less hairy and a little more
civilized with that raggedy black linen shirt and torn up brown pants. But, he also looked
a heck of a lot more muscular than his birdie boss.
Ha, ha, ha! TalRee laughed sarcastically, A Fluxeon, eh!? You're a rare sight!
Must have just arrived, haven't you!? Liking our town so far!?"
"Yeah, it's got it's qualities," I smiled and shrugged, figuring heck, small talk
never hurt. "So tell me about yourself, Birdman."

"As you know, I'm Tal'Ree, one of the richest Lintuans in this town," He told me,
introducing himself proudly, "and this here is Cully, the best in Gorhilian security."
Yeah, I figured I'd be really dumb to try and rob this guy with a dude like "Cully"
around. Wouldn't take much for that guy's fists to turn someone's head into a really
morbid jigsaw puzzle.
"Anyway, anything interesting you got?" Tal'Ree asked me. "I dont want any
cheap junk as youve probably heard already.
I figured I'd start with something he probably hadn't seen before. First item I came
across was my MP3 player and the earbuds I used for it when I was on the go or when I
wanted Sarah to complain about thrash metal music. Wasnt too crazy about getting rid of
it after spending hours making up these playlists, but I figured I needed to hand him
something and cash was more important than music. Besides, I could always buy another
one back home, whereas here, the stuff for sale was a whole other freaking economy. I
wasnt sure how much it would fare here, but I figured it was worth a shot. So, I whipped
it out, and put it on the wooden stand, black earbuds and all. TalRee and Cully just
looked at the silver-colored device and its LCD screen with a lost look in their eyes.
What is that thing? TalRee asked, looking at the MP3 player curiously.
It plays music, I told him, showing him the earbuds. Put those earbuds on your
ears, and hit the on button.
Of course, it took him a while to figure out how the whole stupid thing worked,
being completely oblivious to technology. I had to show him most of it, hitting the on
switch, and once we actually got music going, I showed him how to switch songs, adjust
the volume, bring up the menu for shuffle options, and so on. And to think something that
was just an everyday thing made this guy think he was seeing miracles over here.
This thing is amazing! He nearly screamed as he was blasting his ears out with
the best of Snake Lash and Slamming Armageddon. How did you make this? Is there
actually a tiny band playing inside of this?
Well I told him, trying to explain it, I didnt make it personally. Us Fluxeons
use these for portable music entertainment. You want music, you can take it anywhere.
You wont find awesome stuff like this here in Marsaras.
And then, I had the pleasure of haggling a price with him. He wanted it bad, I
could tell by the look in his eyes that he was going wild over this thing, and he knew he
wouldnt find another one in a long time, if ever. Knowing I needed money, I made the
sucker fight for it.
"Oh... I'll give you 15,000 gold pieces for that!" Tal'Ree told me.
I wasn't sure exactly how much value that really was, but considering the prices of
other things around town, that seemed to be a pretty good start.
"Only 15,000?" I asked, figuring I'd try to get a little more than that out of him.
"How did you get to that number? You know something like this you might never get
another chance to see again. 25,000 and we're good."
"Okay, okay, let's do 20,000," He tried. "Come on, that's a good offer!"
"22,000, no lower," I told him.
Sold. Handed him the MP3 player and the headphones for 22,000 pieces, the
Silver Telrazor smartphone for 45,000 so he could play Candy Clash for hours to come,
and my watch with the little green gleam glow-in-the-dark feature that was also a
stopwatch, detected temperatures, and had a calendar feature, for 8,000. I walked away

with about 75,000 gold pieces in that duffle bag, more than enough to even buy big real
estate around here. I wasn't sure if he was going to keep that stuff for himself or sell it to
another peep, but I didn't care at that point. As for Sarah, she made a nice 55,000 just
from a light-up keychain, her own smartphone, and some of her own jewelry. It was a
freaking shame I didnt come in here with a laptop computer, because they might have
handed over the entire city to me and crown me king of the planet. Al's car, however... no,
I think that would be a liability if these unsuspecting people had to see that thing.
We quickly and silently walked away from the stand and the crowd as
nonchalantly as we could, taking cover in a small alleyway away from the bustle. Then
Sarah just burst into excitement once we were away from everyone else. She was insane
like we just won every freaking midway prize at this loony carnival. For once, we got
lucky, and I was trying to keep my excitement down to avoid getting mugged. No one
needed to know that duffle bag was stuffed with cash.
Were freaking rich!!! She screamed with incredible psychotic excitement.
Ugh, shut up! I told her, trying to make her keep quiet. Holy crap, the last
thing we need is to get mugged by some random werewolf right now. I say we find a
really high quality magic trainer, get the quickest and best deal we can get and go from
there. That has to be a good start. For cash like this, someone's got to know something
about these Celestial Rifts.
Alright, I got it, Sarah replied, still smiling like crazy and cuddling her new
moneybag like a newborn baby. Well find someone good.
And so began our insane search. It took a painfully miserable long time and a lot
of walking around to find a half decent place to get this training, but on the far side of
town near the coast where there was way less noise and commotion, we found an
interesting place in a business area that seemed to know something about magic
considering how they were using weird, supernatural forces to make stuff like ledges and
books float and pathways be illuminated by glowing orbs that obviously weren't light
bulbs. The only thing that made me wary about this whole place was getting transformed.
So far it hadn't happened, so maybe old Ravi back in Jadehill was just being a little
paranoid.
What I thought looked a bit like a lighthouse was actually a huge, white-stone
mage tower, with some kind of odd, magical floating elevator to get to the top. Yep,
another up-yours to science. Sarah and I just looked at each other and decided to go for it.
We stepped on the stone elevator, and simply, it floated to the top, taking the two of us all
the way to the highest level. Well, at least it seemed like they knew what they were doing.
And we didnt even have to jab a stupid plastic button and wait five minutes for doors to
close. Meanwhile, the tower itself had no windows whatsoever, everything in there was
probably a secret they were paranoid of showing to the rest of the world.
We finally reached the top, where all we saw were two ordinate stone doors
leading inside. I just grabbed the fancy brass handle, swung the door open, and we
stepped inside. Hopefully this place was what I thought it was and not someones weird,
private residence.
Man, the inside was bizarre though. Truckloads of books on library shelves,
bubbling flasks and bottles in rainbow colors, some floating stuff here and there, charts
on some random walls and other weird artifacts and stuff lying around. Meanwhile, we
saw two mages there. One was a Cougarman with dark brown fur in a white robe with

arcane symbols all over it while the other was a female Kettun with reddish-orange fur,
dressed in a blue robe, looking over a book. They simply looked at us and suddenly got
irate.
Who are you!? The Cougarman told the two of us in a deep voice, looking
annoyed. "Youve come to the wrong place, these are private quarters!"
Do you teach magic here? I asked him, getting right to the point.
I figured if he didn't, fantastic. Friendliness was only a 180 degree spin and a walk
away.
We practice magic here, yes, He told me, not really looking too kindly at the
intrusion. Though I dont see how that concerns you, Fluxeon.
The two of us want some magic training, I told him frankly, getting straight to
it. We dont know squat about magic at the moment but we want the best and fastest
training you can give.
Apparently he thought that was funny as he lightly chuckled at the absurdity of
the situation, and even the Kettun herself rolled her eyes at our proposition. Really loved
these guys. I then threw the black duffle bag down before him, and slid open the zipper.
As soon as he saw 75 grand in there in gold coins, his jaw dropped and decided to shut up
about it. Awesome, now we were actually getting somewhere.
Oh, you are serious He replied with a totally new and curious tone of voice,
looking at the massive amount of gold in there. Well... before we even get started, you
need to know something about magic first, Fluxeon. If you truly know nothing about it,
it's about time you get educated. You may even feel it's not right for you at all once you
know the details."
Eh, whatever. We needed to do this somehow, someway.
"I'm listening," I told him, knowing it would probably have to take a lot to
dissuade me from figuring out the only thing that might get us a way home.
"First, let me introduce myself," The Cougarman told us. "My name is Cythan,
one of the more skilled Pumata instructors in terms of magic. This is Juto, a Kettun that
has been under my direction for the last sixteen years."
"Name's Ken Donovan, and this is Sarah Patterson," I told the two of them,
introducing myself. "As you can probably tell, we just got here."
He nodded and I figured as much. It also didn't seem like he was at all interested
in our life story or exactly why we wanted magic training in the first place.
"To get the point, magic is expensive, and not just in terms of monetary cost for
training," Cythan told me, preferring to pace about the room while talking. "Every mage
in the Apex Decagram has to choose a circle of magic, and once they've chosen, that
choice is forever. And that choice involves getting branded with the corresponding
circle's sigil. I cannot express the amount of pain that goes into getting this brand, but
once it has been done, you are a member of that circle and can never deviate from it or go
into another circle."
Well, okay, I wasn't that scared about it.
"Moreover," He continued, pacing around, "the casting of spells drains energy, the
same energy that you use to run, jump, climb, and so on. It generates heat regardless of
the spell and requires intricate body motions. Because of that, wearing any kind of
protective armor will either exhaust you or completely prevent you from casting magic.

Finally, mages tend to live longer, but that only means they spend more years as frail
elders."
So, more years as a geezer. Well, magic had its ups and downs. From the looks of
things, some people got into it, but most didn't. Either way, despite all the warnings
Cythan told us about, I still felt okay about it.
"So, with all that in mind, do you still feel the desire to become a mage?" Cythan
asked both Sarah and I.
"Yeah, I'm game," I told him, knowing at least one of us had to do it.
"Same here," Sarah replied, still smiling at the prospect of this.
"Good," Cythan told me, probably thinking explaining all this would have been a
fantastic waste of time if we just walked out the door. "To make this quick as you
requested, the best I can give you for the money you have is a two day learning session.
Youll be worked nearly every hour of the day for the next two days but I promise youll
walk out of here with more than what an intermediate mage knows. Price for each of you
will be fifty thousand gold pieces, but trust me, it will be worth every gold coin.
However, do note the best mages study for long periods of time. Im hoping youre not
going to limit yourself to this.
The Kettun gal named Juto looked at Cythan with some doubt in her eyes.
"You're not thinking of teaching them the-?" She started asking.
"Leave it to me, it will be fine," Cythan replied quickly. "Their gold will go a long
way for us, and it's not the only way we stand to benefit from this exchange."
"Okay, then," She replied with shrug.
Sarah and I looked toward each other and nodded. This was going to be one heck
of an experience. Maybe Celestial Rifts were in the lesson plan, maybe not, but who
cared, I had to try this.
There are a few rules, however, He told us, making sure he got to that point.
Well teach you, but none of what we show you here can be taught to anyone else. Our
methods of learning quickly are strictly contraband and unknown to almost all, so if you
are discovered, you will face dire consequences, and it may not even be from us. Lastly,
any ailment or injury that befalls you while training here is your own risk, especially with
regards to the fact youre both Fluxeons. If you agree, then lets stop wasting time and
begin.
"Sure, let's roll," I told him, getting right to it.
To start off our cramming session like we were preparing for final exams five
minutes before test time, we had to select a circle of magic from the Apex Decagram.
There were ten in total involving just about everything. Illusion magic focused on
creating fake stuff to trick and confuse the crap out of people. Divination focused on
foresight, clairvoyance, and other stuff to help you cheat every Calculus exam you
needed to kill. Enchantment covered giving objects and people magical properties, such
as if you wanted to punch your neighbor's car with a flaming fist. Transmutation involved
transforming one thing into another, such as some rich punk's gold watch into wood.
Renunciation magic covered the killjoy stuff of dispelling magic and creating barriers and
shields. Conjuration focused on creating elements and forces, such as fire and ice in case
you didn't feel like bringing an oven or freezer along. Necromancy covered death magic,
hexes, and curses for all those doom metal fans. Celestial covered magic dealing with
space and time, in case you needed to cram for a final exam and needed what felt like an

extra hour to you but was only ten minutes for everyone else. Restoration covered magic
used to heal, mend bones, and make you ace med school. And finally, Cognitive covered
magic used to persuade, read minds, detect lies, and no longer make you socially
awkward.
Tough choice, I liked quite of few of them. I went with Conjuration though, since
that seemed like a circle of magic that covered Celestial Rifts and besides, whipping out
elemental forces like ice, thunder, and fire just seemed pretty awesome.
"Conjuration seems neat," I told Cythan. "I'll go with that one."
"And I think I'll go with... Necromancy," Sarah smiled.
I looked at her and I broke out laughing. She couldn't have been serious about
that. She had a whopping ten options to go with and she goes with the one that's the
darkest, most morbid out of all of them. Forget it, I didn't know who she was anymore.
"Hey, I'm sure it has plenty of great uses," Sarah told me, trying to justify her
insane decision.
"Stop..." I told her, barely able to contain the laugher. "Stop... please. You... you
becoming a crazy Necromancer witch... oh please, do go for it. Really, you'll complete
my life."
She really went for it.
The first step up was the branding. Apparently, getting this Apex Decagram's
Circle Sigil was painful. Well, if you were still able to walk, talk, and breathe after getting
it, how bad could it be? Cythan and Juto showed us theirs, which for both of them was
located on their left side. The best way to describe them was they were gothic tattoos in
the shape of a Decagram with rings around the points. It was also about the size of a
bread dish that even their fur didn't cover. From the sigil, we could tell Cythan was a
Transmutation guy and Juto dealt with Celestial magic. The way you could tell was the
circle they chose was in color while all the others were black. Even though they were in
different circles, I guess that didn't stop them from teaching other people in other schools.
When it came to getting the sigil on our left side as well, I figured I was ready.
Might as well just make this easy. I rolled my shirt up and Cythan placed some magic,
metallic branding thing that looked like a gothic potato masher. It then started to glow
bright blue for just a moment...
...and then it felt like I was hit at point blank range with a shotgun.
Holy crap, he was not kidding when he said it would hurt. I tried not to scream
like a pansy, relying on just gritting teeth, wincing, and tightening my fists like I was
pooping out a cactus. Slowly, but too slowly, the pain started to subside. Cythan didn't
even wait, he just went over to Sarah and did the same weird ritual to her. Boy did she
scream, but rightfully so. It looked like it magically burned her skin off.
Almost amazingly, we were still human, despite being in physical pain even the
most deranged dentist would be envious over. Wow, eat your heart out, Ravi. And to think
I was actually worried doing this crap would change our race. But, these guys didn't wait
for the pain to go away, we just went right into the training and worked off the pain. I
figured yeah, getting my mind off of the throbbing in my side would be great.
To make things easier, Cythan handled Sarahs training and I was trained by Juto
the feisty Kettun in all things with Conjuration. These guys didnt waste a single minute,
just the way I liked it. Magical Boot Camp, with Drill Sergeants Cythan and Juto to lead
us through our march of insanity. I could swear, after this, I was ready to take on Navy

SEALS admission next. The only issue was I lost track of time, and I knew he wouldn't
let us out for a break. Hopefully Mark and Jeff got too involved in something as well,
because we were definitely not getting back at that fountain anytime soon.
First thing he told me was how to read a magic book. The unorthodox way.
There were two ways of doing it, Cythan told us, quickly but sternly. One is
the traditional method by reading it page for page, which takes many months of study for
individual spells, which turn into years with the more books you read and spells you wish
to acquire. As for the other that is a method that is extremely secret that you must
swear on your life to never, ever to reveal to anyone else.
Oh yeah, I loved the sound of that. But Sarah and I looked at each other, and just
nodded,
I swear, you can trust us, I told him. We wont tell a soul.
Good, because I dont reveal this secret to just anyone, He replied to me with a
stern warning. This method is known as Seal Siphoning, and it's strictly forbidden. In
fact, if you are caught, it will likely get you killed.
Well, that was certainly good to know.
He didnt waste time, and told us that the other method was looking at the cover
of the book and finding the crafted Apex Decagram symbol or embroidered rune that was
on the cover. Sometimes it was just an ink marking, other times it was some weird medal
or medallion without a chain grafted right on the books cover, and for others, it was a
embroidered symbol, but you could always tell what circle of magic the book referenced
just from that emblem on the cover. It was also there because the magic inside the book
had to be contained within the context, as he put it. Essentially, it was the cap on a bottle
pretty much.
Simply enough, a way to learn what was in the book a million times faster was to
put your hand on the symbol or rune, close your eyes, say a few gibberish words that
were learned out of repetition, and bam, it was like all the words in the book were read
out and perfectly understood in just a few seconds. It took quite some time to first figure
out how to read magic via "Seal Siphoning" like that in only a few seconds, but man was
it worth it. It felt weird to say it and maybe even a little geeky, but it was like I mentally
downloaded the entire thing, or just copy and pasted the whole thing into my head. I
swore, if school was this easy, wed only have to go for an hour each month.
I did it with a few hundred Conjuration books in there and it felt weird and
awesome at the same time. Then, to make sure I retained what I read, Juto gave me a
few tests. Start a flame with one hand. Send a lightning bolt toward a test rock they had
for training that was a focus target and was magical enough to withstand the punishment.
Seeing how I was doing this words would only take away from the sheer awesomeness
of this. Even a little fork of lightning to hold in my hand was cool to look at, and I could
see something like this impressing the ladies in the near future. Meanwhile, I took
glances at Sarah every now and then to watch her kill a rat-like creature and bring it back
to life. Just nuts
And we were on to level two a few hours later. Again, we went through a bunch
of really complex books that I would have fallen asleep trying to read the hard way, but
doing the Seal Siphoning was way faster and way better to retain what was being speedread through my brain in just a few seconds. I could totally see why this was contraband.
If you did this to an entire library's worth of magic books, you'd be one heck of a boss. I

swear, I could have read all of these, but yeah, I would have started collecting social
security checks long before I got through half of them. Then again, more testing. More
frying stuff and even throwing up a fiery defensive shield. The whole time, I was nearly
laughing just thinking about how much Mark and Jeff were missing out on. This was the
thrill of a lifetime. I could just see Mark hitting stuff with a stick and Jeff kicking stuff
with his foot while I was cooking stuff with my bare hands.
In through the evening and right into dawn. Didnt stop for breakfast, we just kept
on going through shelves and shelves of books. I was getting too addicted to this stuff, I
swear. But man, we were getting our moneys worth though. Juto was impatient and so
was I, the perfect mix. More books, more testing, bigger fireballs and lightning bolts.
There was a whole stockpile of spells I learned to use, and loads of pyrotechnics I
launched across the room. Man, I couldnt even freaking believe what I was doing, but I
sure as heck was doing it. It was just surreal, but way too much fun to disbelieve.
We rushed through one meal of quick white mystery meat and funny looking
vegetables they were nice enough to provide as part of the deal, Fluxeon safe at that. I
didnt know what Mark and Jeff were doing but I shrugged. Hopefully they figured out
the magic behind getting a fortune out there in the streets themselves, and at the same
time, werent in any hurry to meet up again. But, I was busy with other things. And we
didnt waste another second, it was back to train literally the moment we stuffed the last
bit of bread and meat in our mouths.
It was on and on like that for another thirty hours around the clock with no sleep.
It sounded insane but we did it easily with all the excitement. They were right, we did
finish up in there with a whole lot of powerful stuff on our hands. When we finally
reached the end, I was just overwhelmed and excited. Id throw in a MP3 player and a
cell phone for that kind of thing any day.
"Quite impressive," Juto told me, happy at what he was able to pull off. "Never
trained a Fluxeon before, but it's nice to see even newcomers have a passion for this.
Keep it up, don't stop now."
"You rock," I told the winged fox, shaking her paw. "Thank you for the thrill ride,
I loved every minute of it."
We gave them 50 grand a piece and most of our money was gone but Sarah and I
nabbed something that was worth it. Nothing on Celestial Rifts yet, but we were getting
warmer. Well, it wasnt enough to even start thinking about popping up a portal on
another planet, but we took the first steps and we made a big jump from where we started
off from.
Sarah was bit by a shopping bug and wanted to spend the rest of her five thousand
gold pieces on other stuff, while I was left with fifteen thousand to play around with. We
decided we would meet back up at the fountain and then later try to find Jeff and Mark.
But, for the time being, I took a look around and found a little hole in the wall
place that just seemed interesting. Could have been a nice, cheap inn, which was really all
we needed considering we weren't really too keen on staying here for that long anyway. It
was the only door that was open for a few city blocks, so maybe they were inviting
anyone and everyone in? Figured I might just check it out. When I stepped inside, it
seemed to be a different story. People were just passing this place by like there was
nothing to it, and I figured out why that might have been.

It was a pretty dark room, almost like a dimly lit Japanese dojo, just without any
room for actual physical combat. There were only two guys in there, another Lintuan like
TalRee, and a green scaled Lizardman who looked like he pretty much kept to himself.
This isnt an inn is it? I asked them, looking around at them.
Oh no, my friend, youve come to a way better place than that, The ravenman said in admiration to me. Well, let me explain who we are. My name is Kirvesta,
and this is the Nightwind Summoners Guild. We're looking for new initiates though, and
that means you too.
I hope this wasnt going to be some kind of desperate scheme to get my money,
but then again, they at least looked sane. I could tell he was a bit desperate and this whole
Guild might have been on hard times. I had to say, this guy was going to need something
big to impress me.
Really, you need me? I asked him, trying to act calm and collected. Whats the
benefit to joining you as opposed to some other place around here?
Well, if you join the clan, you become an official Summoner. Kirvesta told me,
pushing me into thinking that was a good thing, Highly advanced Summoners can call
forward the legendary Nightwind Guardians to help them in combat and other situations.
The more you use their powers wisely, the more they will look favorably upon you, and
promote your rank. You start off as an initiate and you can only summon a minor few
guardians, but if they see you using your powers wisely, theyll up your rank and youll
be able to call more powerful guardians. Trust me, we're the only clan that can do this!
Sounded like it was a whole other realm of magic, but it did actually sound like it
could be useful. But it also sounded like there was a catch involved. When I looked into
the dude's eyes, he seemed honest, but kind of desperate about getting new members,
though.
Well, tell me some more about it, I nodded to him. So how do I join?
Heres the tougher part, Kirvesta told me, looking me into the eyes. To become
a Summoner, you need to be branded with the Summoners Sigil. Its like a big black
tattoo that goes into your side.
He quickly showed me his and I saw what this Sigil looked like in full. It was a
gothic-designed circle the size of a bread dish with a unicursal hexagram in the center. At
each of the points of the hexagram, there were strange arcane symbols, looking a bit like
Chinese, Korean, and Japanese text characters. Then, in the center of the hexagram was
another symbol contained in an arcane circle, a much larger symbol than the ones around
the points. Honestly, it seemed very similar to the Apex Decagram tattoo I had just gotten
days ago, only this one went on the right side instead of the left. Still, even with both of
these magic tattoos, you could go into a bar wearing that and no one even on Earth would
give the lowest of care.
The unicursal hexagram and the symbols on the sides resemble the Nightwind
Guardians, while the symbol in the center is your rank, Kirvesta explained to me, using
his own Sigil as an example. If you advance your rank, the symbol in the center will
change accordingly. Now comes the hard part
Yeah? I asked him, wondering what this entailed.
The Nightwind Summoners are a small clan, He told me, looking into my eyes.
Theres only maybe three hundred of us in the whole world. The guardians know this
too. That means if you become a Nightwind Summoner and you keep active, youll raise

your rank pretty quickly and generously. But heres the problem. First, you need the
Nightwind Summoner Sigil tattooed into your side. The problem is its extremely
painful to have it done. The fact it is so painful and expensive is the reason why were so
rare now. Even if we wanted to lower the price, the special ink needed is very rare and
hard to acquire with the right regiments. And the pain is what some might think is
torture.
Awesome, thats just what I wanted to hear. If this one was going to be as painful
as the Apex Decagram one, I was seriously not looking forward to this. But, I focused on
just not caring about the pain. I could see something like this bailing me out of a jam later
on if Conjuration magic just didn't do the job I needed. Plus I liked the cool look of this
thing. It was just badass and it would look neat alongside the Apex Decagram one.
Unfortunately, I had the pleasure of discovering exactly how freaking expensive it
was to have it done. Another ten grand of gold down the drain, probably explaining the
real reason why these guys were a small clan in the first place. After I paid up, Kirvesta
told me to take my shirt off and so I did. I could only hope I was making the right choice
here and not blowing off a massive amount of money on the biggest scam of all time, but
then again, having some awareness about what goes into magic made it clear this guy was
telling the truth.
The guardians want to make sure you can endure this before accepting you into
their ranks, Kirvesta told me the whole story while he prepared the needle. That means
nothing can be done to nullify the pain, otherwise they dont recognize it. You must have
the endurance of a true warrior. Only if they see you endure it the entire way through,
youll be accepted.
I sure hope that came with a money back guarantee if it didn't work. I figured
most people thought it was a scam, too expensive, or pain was just a deal-breaker.
Eh I told him, wondering about something, Im guessing just reaching out to
grab something and squeeze it would be okay, right?
Yeah He replied with some hesitation. I dont see how that would be a
problem.
So, I quickly latched my hands on a wooden support column and got prepared to
squeeze like I was preparing to get my teeth drilled without a drop of Novocain. Only a
few seconds later, Kirvesta got the needle ready, and he began the work on my left side.
Holy. Freaking. Cow. Within the first few seconds, it felt like he was carving me
open with a chainsaw. My big mouth, yes, it was just as horribly painful as the whole
Apex Decagram blasting I had received earlier only this was slow.
Not only did I have to grab the wood beam like I was hanging on for dear life, but
I was wincing and growling in pain. I just kept my eyes shut the entire time, and instead
of thinking about the pain, I just tried to focus on squeezing the wooden column to death
like I was trying to choke it. I must have sounded like an animal in there, but the pain was
freaking ridiculous. But somehow, I could detect it was a supernatural force. He wasn't
lying. I could tell there was some power in this stuff and I wanted it.
Growls turned into screams as I felt Kirvesta dig that needle around and around
like there was no freaking tomorrow. I didnt know how much of it was done and how
much more I needed to go, I couldnt even tell but it felt like murder and it was so much
slower than the Apex Decagram one that just hurt like an apocalypse punch but at least
handled it quickly. There were times I could have sworn he should have been done now

but still, he kept digging around and tearing my whole side apart. I was totally surprised I
wasnt feeling a whole freaking stream of my own blood running down my leg. Or heck,
my intestines just spilling on the floor in a heap.
I thought it would never end for a moment until it all just suddenly stopped. I took
a gasp of air and was breathing heavily and then I looked toward Kirvesta. I was sweating
up a storm, quivering all over, and I was almost afraid to touch the mark thinking Id
have a hand full of blood or accidently let loose an intestine if I did that.
Never thought a Fluxeon would make such noises like that, Kirvesta told me,
almost laughing about it. But, youre done. Welcome into our guild and congratulations
on becoming an official Nightwind Summoner.
He then showed it to me and pointed to the symbol in the center, standing for
initiate. Apparently, he told me he didnt even need to stab that in himself, and that it
appeared just as he finished it. I was still feeling terrible from the pain so I only barely
paid attention. Then, he handed me a pamphlet on all the Nightwind Summoner ranks and
what Nightwind Guardians were available to each rank. I just took it and looked it over
quickly.
"You're always welcome here, friend," Kirvesta told me. "Hopefully you put these
powers to good use."
"Y-yeah, thanks," I told him as I put my shirt back on, kind of feeling like a dog
that just got neutered. "Cool, I'll... see you around."
I was definitely done when it came to getting myself mutilated for magical
powers. Besides, I had to go meet Sarah by the fountain. With the book he gave to me,
there was a big long introduction I didnt feel like reading, with a bunch of pages on how
to perform a summon, and then a description of each of the Nightwind Guardians and
who was allowed to summon them. I figured that could wait for later.
Well, theres one more thing I need to tell you, Kirvesta whispered to me,
making sure no one else would hear. As I know Fluxeons, you guys dont stay that way
for long. All Im asking is try your best not to become part of the Infernal Legion. We
generally try to avoid having members fall under their control.
And who the heck are they? I asked him, wondering what this was about now.
Mmm, figures you wouldnt know yet, He replied, getting more into depth
about it. On this side of Marsaras, you have the continent of Taramas, mostly owned by
the Silver Vanguard League. The High Council keeps a firm grip on the empire, but a few
rebel and barbarian groups linger here and there.
Good to know, but I was clueless when it came to politics.
On the other side, you then have the continent of Baladax, and thats where the
Infernal Legion is, Kirvesta further explained, letting me know of what this other
miserable place was. Just dont go there, at least not while a Fluxeon. Youll either
become like the hideous Dreadspawn, the Grudgebeasts, or even worse, one of the the
screaming undead. And thats just the beginning.
Great, I told him sarcastically, knowing I honestly didnt think of going there
for quite some time, Any other continents?
Well, other than those two, the third is more in the center of the world toward the
south, Kirvesta told me, not really too interested in it. Paltaria is what they call it.
Never saw it myself, its been pretty much neutral this entire time between the Silver
Vanguard League and the Infernal Legion. Rumor has it that it's a strange place and

attempts to seize control of it usually fail because of odd, horrible luck. Besides Paltaria,
theres Symarix and Kivistal, but I dont know too much about them.
Awesome, truckloads of weird places to see while were here. Still, the last thing I
wanted was to become was a zombie or some whacked out demonic creature. I was still
hoping to hold onto humanity, but if that failed, as least I could try to come out as
something... bearable.
Trust me, I'm not touching Baladax, I told him in a casual you-can-relax-now
tone. You sold me on that warning.
Thats just want I wanted to hear, Kirvesta told me, patting me on the back.
You take care then, and I hope you put this to good use. And dont get too carried away
with it.
See you around, man, I told him, wondering if Id actually ever see him again.
And like that, I was out the door. Unlike all the Conjuration stuff I had been
handed, I didnt have an ounce of practice with this. I was just hoping I didnt look like a
total idiot trying to do this for the first time.
As I walked back through the streets, I kind of figured I would try and keep this to
myself for now. I headed back to the fountain courtyard, which was quite a distance
away, but it didnt bother me. It was hard to get bored around here with such weird stuff
and people to see. I wasnt sure if Sarah was done shopping yet and if I was going to wait
for her or she was going to wait for me. Either way, I headed over there, figuring I would
try reading that summoning book if I needed to kill time.
After a long walk through the busy Lashira streets, I finally arrived at the fountain
courtyard. Didnt look too much different during the daytime, but I just shrugged and
waited by the center fountain. And long and behold, I caught sight of Mark already
waiting there. It definitely wasn't hard to spot him considering humans were a rarity here.
When he finally looked at me, he didnt seem too happy about it.
Ken? He asked, looking toward me. What took ya so freakin long? Weve
been checkin around here for the last two days, man, ya could have at least said ya were
up to somethin! Ya know I can't text ya anymore, right!?
Well, he had every right to be pissed if he had been waiting here for hours and
hours. Although I sure hope that wasn't the only thing he was doing and was at least
killing time in some useful way.
Intensive magic training, I told him, looking into his eyes. Trust me, Sarah and
I busted our butts going through it. The dude there didn't want to wait on it either. But
man, you should see the kind of stuff we can do now. I mean, they didn't know Celestial
Rifts, but we're making good headway. Anyway, seriously, the kind of stuff we were
trained on wasnt stuff that could be done in just a few hours. So yeah, come on, man, cut
me a little slack here.
He didn't really seem all that impressed. Whatever, I thought it was awesome,
that's really all that mattered. My guess was the two of them didn't really find anything
impressive and maybe he was still irked about waiting for so long.
Jus' save it for when we really need it, Mark told me, seeming a little uneasy.
I had no idea what was up with him, but I guess Id be a little annoyed if I were
Mark. Yeah, we should have come back earlier like we said we would, but the whole
situation behind it was a different story. From the way Cythan and Juto sounded, I
doubted they would have liked to wait for us to tell a few friends what we were doing.

Anyway, wheres Jeff? I asked Mark, wondering why he was the only one
waiting here. "He shopping somewhere?"
And then, he sighed quickly with a bit of annoyance. Seemed like the more I
talked to him, the more nervous he got. What the heck was up with him?
Alright, fine, Mark said to me, sounding like he was annoyed. It's nothin'
against ya, man, I know you an' Sarah were busy. Yeah, we did try an' go for weapons
trainin. Sold a few of our things for quite a bit of cash, an' yeah, I got some guy to help
me out with usin a sword and a bow. Wasnt much but it's good for now."
He then showed me said sword and bow and they seemed like a decent deal. They
weren't anything out of the ordinary, but they'd do the job.
"So what's so bad about that?" I asked, figuring learning how to master this stuff
wasn't a bad idea.
"As for Jeff" Mark muttered, avoiding eye contact, "...he really doesnt even
need it with what hes got now. Lets jus say were down to three Fluxeons now
Oh. Freaking. Beautiful.
Now I knew why Mark was acting the way he did. And to think Jeff was the most
paranoid of magic and this kind of stuff, irony stabs him in the back. Considering the way
things played out, it really should have been Sarah and I that got hit with something, but I
was honestly a little surprised we went through so many magic books, rituals, and stuff
and didnt pick up anything unexpected along the way.
So what the heck happened to him? I asked, wondering what he had become
and where he was now.
There was a guy sellin exotic artifacts an' stuff, Mark began, seemingly getting
even paler. Some idiot tried to shoplift from him, but he crashed into Jeff and he fell into
a pile of that guy's stuff. Jeff got cut in the hand by a black dragon claw that guy was
sellin an' thats how Jeff ended up as a black Draco a couple minutes later.
And what the heck pray tell is a Draco? I asked Mark, wondering what this
meant exactly.
Its I dunno how to say this, man... a combination of a dragon and a human,
something like that, Mark told me, looking like he really didnt want to talk about it. I
just watched his skin turned into black scales and then these two giant dragon wings
tore right out of his back. It was jus' so freakin insane, man.
All I could do was just smack the palm of my hand against my face, totally in
disbelief. So much for getting out of here with our last bit of human sanity.
Chapter 4 Heading Outward
It hadnt been too long before Mark and I met up with Sarah and Jeff, after a lot
of paranoia. Mark sure didnt lie about the details. I tried my best to look at him without
making a face. I would have been lying my head off if I said I didnt think anything of it.
His skin was completely black and covered with scales except for the gray dragon
scales on his chest. Meanwhile, all of his nails had become razor-sharp talons and claws.
His entire head looked way more like a dragons face, with loads of sharp teeth on his
long snout and yellow eyes with black slits running down the middle. His ears were gone,
replaced with two black and red draconic fins on both sides of his head. And to complete
the misery, two massive black and red bat-like leathery wings were on his back, along

with a spiked black scaly tail coming out above his butt. Sure wasnt anything his mother
would have liked to see him as.
Sarah gasped at the sight of Jeff and his whacked out appearance, but she tried
not to say anything about it. Meanwhile, I just looked at the guys claws. Sure didnt need
a sword at this point of the game, he could take out someones head and then some with
those things. Regardless, he sure wasnt happy about it
"Dude, that's..." I muttered to him, totally at a loss for words.
Im a monster Jeff told the rest of us, his scaly head looking toward the
ground in dismay. "Never should have happened..."
Yup, he had his voice though. A little bit more growly, but yeah, it was him. The
body size seemed to match up too, even though so much of him now looked nothing like
he was before.
This is just great, I told the others sarcastically, knowing it probably wouldnt
be long before we all became like him. Well, at least you're not something I'd want to
pick a fight with. Well, you wanna get rich? Walk into the locker room of the football
team and I'll be right behind you selling fresh boxer shorts. We'll split the profits.
He chuckled a little at that comment and closed his eyes a bit in embarrassment,
but it didnt change much and he went right back to being depressed half a second later.
Yeah, I knew it wasnt pretty, but man, he looked way better than most of the other
people here. Could have been worse. Still, he didnt want to talk about it, and honestly, if
I was him yeah, I wouldnt want to be chatting about it either.
Well, tryin to find a way home quickly suddenly dropped dead as an option,
Mark said to everyone else, looking away for a moment.
As painful as it was to admit that, he was right. Bringing Jeff home like that was
just cruel. Plus we would get seriously chewed out by a lot of people wondering where
we were and what the heck happened to Jeff. If he was still human, we would have a way
easier time with it, but now forget it, this joyride just got an extension.
No, Jeff told Mark, not happy with the sound of that at all. I dont want the
three of you stuck here because of this.
First off, Sarah replied to Jeff, knowing that was a stupid way of thinking. We
got in this mess together, and were getting out of it together. Its either everyone or no
one, simple as that. Maybe there is a way to bring you back to normal, I dont know. Or
maybe youll get used to it. Whatever, were not leaving you behind. I dont care what
anyone else thinks. Second of all, we're not even close to getting out of here yet, so don't
even bother thinking like that.
Could have been any of us, I told Jeff, knowing how close we probably came to
it although I was a bit glad it didn't happen to me. Sarah and I were practically asking
for it with all the magic we got our hands into. Don't worry about it, man, we'll find a
way to undo this.
I guess the pep talk made him feel a little better, but now we were kind of stuck.
The idea of trying to create a portal to go home kind of shot itself in the head right now. I
really didnt feel like doing it unless we managed to reverse the effect that happened on
Jeff. I know Ravi made it sound like it wasn't possible, but I didn't care. I figured I'd at
least try.
So Mark started up again, still seeing this as not finished, what are we doin
now?

Well, I thought it over for a minute. Right now, our chances of creating a portal
ourselves was slim. We needed to find someone who would likely have that kind of book,
and we had already scoped out most of the merchants here. But, someone in that Silver
Vanguard League that Kirvesta mentioned might have something like that.
You guys dont know of the Silver Vanguard League, do you? I asked the
three of them, wondering if any of them heard the same thing I did.
And the Infernal Legion guys? Mark asked, probably hearing the same story.
Yeah, bits and pieces heard from here and there. Why do ya ask?
I think our best chance of finding cures and getting a way home is through
helping the Silver Vanguard, I told Mark, thinking it would probably be a good idea.
Getting affiliated is really the only way we're going to figure out how to get things done
around here, including making Celestial Rifts and maybe a possible reversal to Jeff's
Draco thing."
I figured this idea was something we could build off of. Besides, being stuck here
by ourselves wasnt going to help at all, especially if there really was no freaking way out
of here. We'd run out of money eventually.
Well, I'm out of better ideas, Sarah said to the rest of us, thinking it over. The
Silver Vanguard League probably has access to more magic than anyone else around
here, and we need affiliation at a point like this.
Mark was a little against it but Jeff was all for it. Leave it to the magic of peer
pressure to get someone like Mark to agree with you after a little persuasion. From what I
could tell, he didnt like the fact we'd essentially be enlisting in a military, but heck,
plenty of people in our own class were doing that right after high school.
After we had finally agreed on it, all we had to do was find a recruiting office
somewhere in town. Surprisingly, the places they have built for the Silver Vanguard
League were actually pretty big and could barely be missed. After walking around and
asking for directions, we came across a large white building with many square windows
with a giant white stone entrance and a very ordinate lobby. On the front, there was a
metal emblem of a sword with wings, obviously their insignia. I felt a little weird about
doing this, but without it, we were pretty much screwed, no questions asked.
Once we walked up the flight of stone stairs and made our way through the
entrance, I saw there were not a whole lot of people in there, maybe one or two warriors
dressed in armor, a soldier behind a white stone desk, and then us. The place definitely
looked well-funded and pretty fancy with its carpets and tapestries. I looked around and
turned to the guy behind the desk, hoping that getting something like this done wasnt
going to be a freaking living nightmare like waiting on line at the Department of Motor
Vehicles is. He was dressed in a load of silver plate armor as if his job sitting behind a
desk all day was incredibly dangerous. As for himself, he was one of the Lizardmen.
Throw in a Russian accent and thats the guy we talked to.
Whos in charge of recruiting here? I asked the armored soldier behind the desk,
not really intimidated by all his fancy dandy plate mail and such. You?
As a matter of fact, I am, He told the four of us, suddenly looking really
interested in our appearance. The name's Radesh, one of the most senior Liskons here.
So, you three Fluxeons are interested in joining the Silver Vanguard League? We could
really use someone like you for a very important mission.

That was rather fast. Almost seemed like this Liskon lizard dude had been
wanting us to come here the entire time. Didn't take too long to figure out that being a
Fluxeon had something to do with it.
Yes, we are, Sarah told him, trying to be more polite than straight to the point
like I was. And well do whatever it takes to be admitted into your ranks.
Whoa baby, when the heck did we ever agree to "whatever it takes" for these
guys? Heck, my thoughts of joining these peeps in the first place was only just a
suggestion.
I almost blurted out something in objection, but then another side of me said not
to be stupid by saying something idiotic in front of possibly the only organization that
could save our sorry behinds. Besides, by chance, maybe he didn't take that literally.
Okay, I knew we needed to do this since any hope of getting out of Marsaras ourselves
with trying to restore Jeff to normal was way out of the question now. But anything? I
could just picture this knightly guy laughing his head off in hideous and maniacal
laughter just from the thought of it.
Im quite glad to hear that, The armored Liskon guy told Sarah. You see, we
need a few Fluxeons for a particular initiation mission. The Draco is fine too since
theres nothing distinctive about him that says hes from the Silver Vanguard or even
Taramas. Dracos are a solitary and neutral race, often taking the role of mercenaries. So
he's perfect too.
Okay, so what does this mission entail? I asked him, wondering how much back
breaking I was going to have to do for this.
"Well, that's not my area," The guy told me, obviously trying to cover his butt for
not knowing. "Tarka is the one who will be explaining what you need to do. I will go tell
him that you wish to speak to him. In the meantime, wait over there."
And then he pointed to the far right corner where there were a batch of fancy
chairs all huddled around small tables. Figured we might as well wait for this guy,
whoever he was.
As we sat down and waited, this felt all too familiar of a waiting room, like at the
dentist where you can hear a drill in the background and the smell of burnt tooth still
lingering in the air. Meanwhile, this place didn't even have crappy magazines to read.
And here I was so looking forward to killing time reading about cars I was never going to
be able to afford.
After waiting about twenty minutes for someone to show up, we suddenly heard
someone behind us.
"Ah, you're the ones."
I turned around and bam, I had to blink twice. There before me was a three foot
tall humanoid wombat with dark gray fur, wearing a dark blue cloak. He had a large frock
of hair brushed back, and he seemed to be in a friendly mood that I wasn't sure was a
good sign or a bad sign. In any case, when I imagined what Tarka looked like, this guy
wasn't exactly what I had in mind.
"You're Tarka?" Mark asked, looking curious.
"Yep, that's me, Tarka the enchanter Micari," He nodded and smiled. "I was told
you four want to join the Silver Vanguards. That's good, but before you can, you need to
show us what you're capable of as prospective members before official recruitment. And I
have just the mission for you."

I was hoping this would be something quick and easy. Still, if this was really a
mission for Fluxeons, I figured it couldn't have been that hard, unless these guys were
unreasonable scum.
Theres a very old seaside city to the south called Opalstone, Tarka told the four
of us. It used to be a magic trade city many years ago, but it was overrun by wild beasts
and has been mainly forgotten about. But, what is more important is Opalstone hides an
underground vault called the Amethyst Chamber. It has been locked for centuries and we
need you four to retrieve the key gems to unlock it.
At first, all I thought we needed to do was cap a few critters in the head with a
fireball so people could move back in. But no, I figured if all they wanted was for that
place up and running again, they could probably handle the job themselves.
"So what's so special about this Chamber?" I asked Tarka, curious to know.
"I've heard it's rumored to hold a vast wealth of magical libraries, artifacts, and
the like, but no one alive today has ever been inside," Tarka told us, trying to imagine
what was in there. "According to history, Paltaria, a southern continent that we've never
had good relations with, found out about the chamber's power and tried to secure it.
However, with it being so close to Lashira, they simply locked the entrance with a
magical seal and abandoned it. I'm sure they still have the keys."
Whatever those actually looked like. Still, the idea of this place having magic and
stuff seemed promising. Heck, the whole method to create Celestial Rifts might been in
there as well.
"Any idea what these keys look like?" I asked Tarka, hoping the little furball had a
clue.
He showed us a book with pictures regarding the details behind this whole thing.
Truthfully, the pictures were pretty sketchy, but they worked better than my imagination.
"The records indicate the magical mechanism that makes up the lock is activated
by four gem keys," Tarka told us, showing us a map of the somewhat clover-shaped
continent. "Paltaria itself is divided into four separate countries, one for each season.
Summerfield is in the north, Autumnvale makes up the eastern area of the continent,
Wintershire makes up the south, and Springside is in the west. It is said the barrier can
only be dispelled once four gems have been placed in their respective keyholes. We also
believe the Paltaria Guardians are the ones that posses these key gems."
Great, couldn't wait to meet these guys. Obviously, if there was a way to trick or
manipulate the locking mechanism, I'm sure it would have been done already. But, maybe
we could get our hands on these gems if these Guardians simply weren't around or totally
forgot they owned these keys. If it's been that many years, I'm sure it was an easy thing to
forget about.
"As I was saying," Tarka continued, flipping through the book, "these diagrams
depict four fist-sized sockets in a pedestal just before the entrance of the chamber. One
has an insignia of a sun, another with a flower, the third with a leaf, and the last with a
snowflake. It's pretty clear the Paltaria Guardians wouldn't unlock this chamber unless
they all agreed on it."
"Surprised you guys haven't just tried to dig another entrance," I shrugged,
thinking that would be much easier.
"Oh, I wish," Tarka fantasized. "Besides the fact that Opalstone is infested with
monsters that would never let a digging operation go on, the chamber is deep

underground. I don't think anyone would want to discover the key gems are also meant to
disarm the traps Paltaria might have set up in there."
Good point, sure as heck wouldn't want to find that out the hard way that trying to
bypass the magic barrier ended up with something else going off in your face.
"So, if we do this thing and unlock this chamber for you, you'll allow us to
become members?" I asked Tarka, really wanting to make sure this guy would keep his
part of the bargain.
"Oh, absolutely!" Tarka was happy to admit. "All the way to the rank of High
Sentinels! Trust me, for centuries, the Silver Vanguard Council has wanted this chamber
reopened without begging Paltaria for it, and High Sentinels enjoy a lot of perks and
benefits including access to our own library, training facilities, and you would get your
own living quarters. Also, you don't need to unlock it, we just want the four gem keys.
Opalstone is a dangerous place, and we have no reason to go over there unless we have
everything we need to unlock the chamber."
Access to the library these guys had might be another possibility for figuring out
how to pull off Celestial Rifts. If we really wanted to get out of here, doing this mission
for these guys seemed like a decent way to do it. But, I could care less about some free
apartment these guys offered. I just wanted to get out of here.
"Sounds good, but how do we get to Paltaria?" I asked Tarka, figuring it probably
meant taking a boat or something like that. "You guys have any ships or flying mounts
that could make the trip?"
Because yeah, I figured mentioning anything about customs, baggage claim, or
airfare would just bewilder this guy.
"Boats, oh no..." Tarka replied, making a face at just the thought of it. "Oh,
Paltaria would recognize it as a Taramas ship right away and would make it an easy
target. But, we have a more secret method. In the center of Paltaria lies a Nexus Gate, a
magical waypoint that wizards use to travel from gate to gate by means of a Terasphere. It
would allow us to quietly sneak in a few people, but the Terasphere needs at least a week
to recharge. As a result, bringing in an army this way to invade would never happen."
He then showed us what this Terasphere thing looked like. It was about the size of
a softball, but looked more like a deep blue glass ball that contained a swirling galaxy in
it.
"This one is aligned to take you to Paltaria's central Nexus Gate and back again,"
Tarka told us, admiring the glass relic. "Trust me, you don't want to lose it. Besides being
hard to create, getting out of Paltaria would be very difficult otherwise. When you want
to use it, have everyone touch the stone, close their eyes, and allow its force to flow
within you. You'll feel like you're about to fall asleep, and after about twenty seconds or
so, it will envelop all of you in a flash of light and you'll be taken to the calibrated
destination. It's a neat, little relic, I must say."
I was realizing why they didn't want to do this kind of mission themselves. If
Paltaria could recognize Taramas ships, obviously they'd be able to recognize Silver
Vanguard soldiers as well and snipe them right at the door. But as humans, it would be a
different story. To them, we would just be painfully uninteresting nobodies.
"I would recommend getting ready before going on this mission," Tarka told us.
"I'd also like you to be aware that it's much easier for a Fluxeon to be transformed in
Paltaria than any other continent. Quadruple the amount, most likely. The other thing is

these Paltaria Guardians have a strong network and despite being made up of four vastly
different countries, their leaders often communicate and coordinate affairs. If one of the
Paltaria Guardians becomes aware their gem has been stolen, they'll alert the others.
Therefore, I'd recommend splitting up to seize all four gems at once individually. By the
time one attempts to notify the others, it will be too late. Ha, ha, the look on all four of
their faces will be quite comical, I'm sure!"
Great, was there anything else this guy could do to make this sound even harder?
Heck, it wasn't even like we could text each other anymore when it came to handling this
stuff. I wasn't crazy about the "quadruple the amount" part either. All it took was one look
at Dragonbreath Jeff to really dislike the whole idea of that crap happening.
"So, any questions?" Tarka asked with an easy-going smile, waiting about two
seconds. "Okay, glad to hear it. No rush, trust me, the Amethyst Chamber isn't going
anywhere, so take all the time you need. When you four are ready, use the Terasphere."
I really didn't have any questions this guy would probably be able to answer
anyway. But yeah, I seriously didnt have good feeling about this mission, it sounded like
we were going to nearly kill ourselves here. I mean come on, if these Paltaria guys went
through this much trouble to lock this place up, obviously these guys werent going to
make cracking it back open a piece of cake. I could see us getting into a serious jam for
this but again, wandering around without a clue was stupid and what happened to Jeff
was a clear sign the clock was ticking. Plus, we were talking about a high potential for
figuring out the Celestial Rift recipe. As opposed to, you know, being lost hobos in the
middle of nowhere without a clue as to want to do about it.
"Fine, we'll get this done," I told him, taking the Terasphere and shaking his paw.
"Thanks for the heads up."
"Oh, thank you." Tarka smiled. "Looking forward to seeing your successful
return!"
After turning around and heading out of this place, the four of us decided to call it
a night and make prep work a thing for tomorrow. Besides, I needed a bath and my
clothes were getting nasty. Washing stuff the old fashioned way in a washroom really
sucked like mad, but I did it anyway. As for wrinkles whatever. Mom wasnt here to
comment on my appearance anyway. Ironing was out of the question.
Thankfully, money wasnt an issue here, so getting extra clothes that were at least
somewhat like what we normally wore was possible. The closest that we found to what
we were currently wearing were shirts and pants that were linen. And I threw in a
crimson cloak in there for good measure. It completed the conjurer look.
Getting a nice luxury room at the inn wasnt so hard, or at least not with what we
had on us. However, getting a decent meal was. Jeff certainly didnt care now, he helped
himself to feasting downstairs. As for the rest of us, I zipped open my duffle bag and our
dinner consisted of chips and pretzels out of paranoia of racial changes. Honestly, I didnt
like the thought of becoming something on behalf of a piece of pork I might have eaten,
so junk food was now essential, because becoming a pig-man didnt settle well with
me. I was willing to toss nutritional values out the window for that. Screw that whole
nutrition pyramid thing anyway.
The room was nice, a little crowded with the four of us, but it was decent. As for
sleeping, I actually slept pretty well. The blankets were actually soft and comfortable as
opposed to the sheetrock for comforters they have in the hotels back on Earth. I wasnt

too tired and as everyone else went to sleep, I whipped out that Nightwind Summoners
book and read it over.
Apparently, Nightwind summoning involved a lot of memorization of words and
creatures said in a language that not even that Universal Translator spell could figure out.
Possibly another reason why no one wanted to learn this thing. Just like calculus.
Thankfully, someone in this tiny clan actually translated the pages in a way that make
sense and didn't require anal amounts of studying time. Unlike calculus.
The phrase was just weird. Las machodaz Nighwindash scarmonas ci gaznardash
vinc somnia. Apparently, all that meant "great guardians of Nightwind, I call upon you
for aid." After that, you had to say "come forward" as sectash forodoth and then the name
of whoever you wanted to drag out. The higher your rank, the more you were entitled to
call upon the more elite guardians. So as a newbie, you were essentially stuck with
calling in nothing more than a pet kitty-cat in comparison to calling in giants and
mayhem.
As history goes, these mythical critters had their spirits axed at some point or
another, but through a blood pact with the Nightwind Summoners, they were able to
"taste life" or some crap like that again, allowing their spirits to be healed. They just
remain as ghosts until a Summoner calls one in via the crazy chanting, and they're able to
take physical form for a short while. Apparently, when I got that tattoo, the reason I didn't
bleed blood and guts everywhere was because that was used to refresh the spirits of these
guys. Creepy, I know.
Every time a Summoner makes a summon, it requires some blood to help the
guardians materialize for a short while. You never see it actually being taken, but of
course summoning again and again rapid-fire is a great way to make yourself anemic.
Still, after I read this stuff and reached the last page, I blew out the candle and headed to
sleep.
We woke up at noon. No surprise, our internal clocks had been jet-lag mutilated
with the time shift. And because of that, we were nearly kicked out of the room.
Apparently, the inn keeper, one of Pumata guys with brown furry skin, frizzy cat ears,
and a furry tail, literally came into our room, woke us all up with a cat scream that
sounded like a rake ripping open a chalkboard, and told us to get out. Sure didnt think
much of the hospitality. The room was nice, but the check-out procedure was laughably
horrific.
Wow, nice lady, Mark remarked as we rushed out of there. Almost makes me
happy I didnt leave her a tip.
And it was obvious to see why they wanted people to pay in advance.
"So... about that mission to unlock the Amethyst Chamber..." Sarah spoke up as
we headed back into town. "We're going to need food, supplies, clothing-"
"Keep in mind we don't exactly have an RV here," I told her, knowing we'd have
to improvise when it came to food, shelter, and whatever. "Anything you buy is stuff
you're going to have to lug around on foot. But whatever, I want to check the place out
first before going anywhere."
"You sure about that?" Sarah asked, probably remembering what the furry
wombat said. "Tarka said it was dangerous over there and all he needed were the gems.
Let them handle the monsters."

Yeah, I knew that was what he said, but I was more interested in the Amethyst
Chamber itself. To go through this much trouble to lock something up meant there had to
be a good reason for it.
"Sure, I know that," I told Sarah, making it clear I hadn't forgotten already. "Still,
are you not the least bit interested to know what's in that chamber? I'm thinking Celestial
Rift stuff. Maybe something even bigger. Sure, if we pull this off, we get exclusive access
to the library these guys have. I'm cool with that, but that chamber could be packed with
epic stuff for all we know, and they never said we'd have access to check the place out.
Once you give those guys the gem keys, they decide who goes in and who doesn't.
Imagine if Celestial Rifts 101 is in the chamber, but not in their library."
"Yeah, we get first dibs," Mark agreed. "I mean heck, it's not like we're gonna jus'
strip the place clean. We get what we want first an' then hand over the keys. Totally fair."
"We need these keys first before deciding anything," Jeff mentioned, thinking we
were jumping the gun on this. "But I agree with taking a look at Opalstone first. Maybe
we can figure out an alternative."
Yeah, it was possible and Tarka couldn't complain either. I figured I could cover
my butt and tell him we just wanted to make sure everything was there and secure before
telling anyone in the Silver Vanguards it was safe to come on over. Heck, they'd be
thinking we did them a favor. And they never did say we couldn't take a few samples out
of the place either.
Sarah insisted on shopping for supplies, but I figured I'd just get whatever I
needed for a typical camping trip. Around here, buying that kind of stuff wasn't easy. And
again, I sure didn't want to touch the food around here. I wasn't that hungry and I figured
I'd wait it out before taking a bite out of something that would change me into a freak.
After that, we headed south and left Lashira behind, getting set for this insane
mission we had to fulfill. At this point, all we had was money and ourselves. The only
food I had was gone, and I was really not keen on eating something contaminated for
Fluxeons. Sure, Jeff didnt think anything of it since he didnt have to worry about it any
more, but for the rest of us, it was torture.
Lashira was still busy with people when we left and started heading south down
the beaten dirt road that led to the abandoned town of Opalstone. For the most part, the
walk was along the coast with nothing but barren land to the left of us. And it took hours,
and though we could have rented mounts like bull-oxen or oversized wolves, I wasn't so
sure about it considering all it took for Jeff to become a Draco was a little cut from a
dragon claw.
And yet, we were the only ones on this fading out road for good reason. As my
eyes began to wander and caught sight of the beach. Despite how appealing it looked, I
didnt want to guess what was in the water. Or maybe sitting in the sand, just waiting to
pop out and stab me and turn me into something like them, probably some octopus-crab
nightmare that would help me hate life like never before.
I could look to Sarahs and Marks faces and it was easy to see the paranoia was
contagious. And then I looked to Jeff, the shining example of what could happen. Not my
favorite place to be. Crabs, lobsters, and clams were ungodly ugly in my opinion, and
who knew what else was lurking in the sand?
Well, sure miss having a car, I couldnt help but blurt out. Seriously though, I
havent done this much walking in a long time.

Better get used to it, Jeff replied, thinking I shouldnt be complaining. Flying
sure beats this, though.
Then go flying like a little birdie, Sarah remarked in an irritated voice, not
exactly in one of her finest moods. You really think I should be jealous about what
happened to you? And really, enjoy it while it lasts, because they're no way you're going
home like that, Puff.
"Ha, ha," I snickered, enjoying that for a moment. "Ah, that was rich."
Jeff wasn't too thrilled about that, and Sarah gave me an annoyed look, but at least
Mark looked like he found that to be funny as well.
And we came across more barren ground and coastline. Our beaten path to the
south was nearly gone and I was just hoping we werent walking off course and just
heading off into nowhere despite how I figured we were heading in the right direction.
Still, I was quite sure all we had to do was follow the coastline. Yet, we saw no sign of
any town anywhere. Something was kind of screwy about this.
Still, as we kept walking, I couldnt help but notice the beach. Something was
weird about it. I started seeing really freaking big seashells just washed up on the shore. I
mean really big ones, ones that a kid could climb into and stuff and make a fort out of it.
And I did not want to know what kind of crustacean monstrosity they once belonged to.
Still, I didnt say anything about it until I looked forward and saw there were even bigger
ones up ahead.
"Man, what a weird place," Mark commented, looking at it before him.
These things were monster-sized. Didnt take too long to realize, yeah, they were
big enough to make homes out of. Still though, I didnt think Opalstone would be made
of giant seashell houses, but I guessed it saved people the effort of having to build most
of the exterior stuff. Even though Opalstone wasnt anywhere near as big as Lashira was,
I could guess there were at least a hundred and fifty of these houses fashioned out of
giant seashells. Kind of looked like a town a community of mermaids and mermen made
before the water receded. But this place seemed to have been like this for a while.
As we walked into this town, the whole place seemed weird. Paths between
houses were made of seashell pieces while holes had been punched into the giant
seashells themselves to create windows. I could easily look inside and see there was
actually furniture in there. Sure, it was pretty dirty and disgusting from not being used for
so long, but still, it was proof someone really did live here at least once. Among the loads
of giant seashells and chipped streets, we saw the creatures that had taken the place over.
Ugly looking red crocodile beasts with eight legs and bristly antennae. I didnt even know
what to call them.
This place is just trippy, I told the others, never expecting Opalstone to be
anything like this. And what the heck are those things, crocodiles?
Dont know, but somewhere in that mess is the chamber, Mark replied, just
watching the creatures himself and pulling out his bow. And if we wanna get in there,
best chance is to start cleanin' out these things.
And before I could say Okay, hold on a minute to let us prepare before we
actually start fighting, he fired his bow. As impressed as I was that the arrow he fired
managed to smack one right in the eye, I wasnt too excited about how much he managed
to bloody aggravate those red crocodiles off.

Next time you decide to shoot things randomly, I told him quickly, just
watching the red crocodiles gather together and come charging right toward us, youd
better make sure were ready to attack.
Theres no time for that! Sarah screamed, already getting ready with her first
spell. Just kill them for crying out loud!
Immediately, Jeff took to the skies. Okay, fine, Jeff actually made flying look
impressive. Meanwhile, Mark quickly fumbled with his quiver and arrows and prepared
to launch another shot.
Eight or nine of them, I honestly couldnt tell how many there were coming at us
with all the buildings in the way. But now, I really figured we could use a fifth member of
our attack force. Now was a really swell time to put that summoning stuff to use and give
it a try. So, I shut my eyes for a moment, held out my hands, and recited those special
words I had memorized to begin a summoning. It meant ignoring everything that was
going on for a few seconds, but I figured I had enough space and time to do it.
Las machodaz Nighwindash scarmonas ci gaznardash vinc somnia
Ah, my hands were actually feeling warm. At least I was pulling this off right, in
whatever gibberish language I was talking, saying Oh great guardians of Nightwind, I
call upon you for aid. Now I just had to think of who I wanted to haul their butt out here.
Sectash forodoth Orvarlex!
Actually meant Come forward, Orvarlex! And there it was, the extent of my
knowledge of this weird language I was speaking in, but I figured the other three actually
knew what I was saying with the help of that translator spell.
I opened my eyes and saw a huge, flaming outline of the Summoners Sigil, just
implanted and eating away at the ground. Suddenly, the center of it exploded and out of it
emerged Orvalex the red dragon whelp, spiraling in the air and then flapping his wings to
stay afloat. Okay, he was small and probably very scary to maybe only a Chihuahua, but
he was better than nothing. Still though, the whole burning Summoners Sigil in the
ground was pretty cool, at least it looked like what I was doing was intimidating
Your bidding, master? He asked me in a raspy dragon voice.
Well halleluiah, this was actually working and making myself look stupid would
have to come another day. For a minute, I thought the one language that seemed to dodge
the whole Universal Translator Spell thing was going to be the same language these
funny creatures would be talking. Sure glad that didn't happen.
Torch them to cinders. I told Orvarlex, pointing toward the red freaky
crocodiles.
He then started gathering flames around his mouth. Meanwhile, I had seen that
Jeff had torn a nice and wicked looking laceration into the backs of one of them while
performing an aerial swoop through the air. Sarah had summoned a bone spear and hurled
it right into one of their mouths. Meanwhile, Mark was shooting their eyes out one by
one, pretty much convinced those were pretty much the only spots the arrows would sink
in. A few times they tried to snap at him, but he was able to back off just in time.
There were about seven of them left, and then I decided to get into the action.
They were getting pretty close now, and I knew I had to strike when Jeff had done
another swoop to avoid hitting him. So, I focused my concentration, and prepared my
best fireball.

Now please dont tell me that seeing your hands light up with fire without
cooking your hand just isnt cool. Once the power and fire I needed had fully gathered, I
launched a large fireball at the incoming crocs. Meanwhile, Orvarlex let loose a similar
sized fireball from his dragon breath, and just before my fireball and his struck the crocs,
they merged together and exploded violently, smothering five of the crocs with a lot of
fire. After a sudden wave of heat and flying embers, when the flames had cleared, it was
to my delight to see five of their burning bodies, totally dead and annihilated. That left
about three of them, nearly fifteen feet away
Soon after, Jeff swooped in, readied his claw, and really tore in hard at one of
them right in the back of the neck, nearly taking the crocs head off. Okay, Ill admit,
seeing him do that was pretty awesome, Ill give him credit for that. Definitely glad to
have a Draco on our side.
Sarah released another dark magic attack from all of those Necromancy spells she
had gotten, this time smothering one of the last two crocs with a dark cloud. I couldnt
tell what happened in that black blotch of shadows, but I heard the croc scream in pain,
and when the cloud cleared away, the croc lay dead in a puddle of black blood. Lovely. I
wasn't going to ask what happened with that one.
The last croc had gotten lucky, and had made it all the way over to where we were
standing. He quickly tried to take a bite out of Sarah, but she quickly stepped back,
avoiding the crocodiles massive jaws by like half an inch. Quickly thinking, Mark threw
down his bow, whipped out his sharp claymore, and had thrust it downward right at the
crocodiles jaw. However, to his luck, the croc moved forward when he really shouldnt
have, leaning right into the blow and suddenly making his head the spot where Mark
stuffed his sword in. After a satisfying fleshy sucking sound, the croc lay there dead with
a massive sword in his brain.
Guess that takes care of him... Sarah winced a bit, still thinking it was a bit
nasty.
Shortly after, I had turned back to Orvarlex, who had been looking at me in the
meantime.
You performed well considering this was only your first summon, Orvarlex told
me in his raspy dragon voice. Most initiate Nightwind Summoners think the guardians
are supposed to do all the work, but you did well fighting alongside me. For this as well
as our desperate need of higher ranked members in our sect, I shall see to it you be
promoted to Roshan.
Roshan, if I wasnt mistaken, was the third rank, with Initiate being the first and
Netherar being the second. Well, that was certainly a quick and easy jump. I guess these
guys realized when your followers are few in number, it might be a good idea to promote
them.
Awesome, I appreciate it, Orvarlex, I told him, nodding my head. Take care
then.
He nodded back and then closed his eyes. Then, in a flash of brilliant, pulsing
light, he was suddenly gone without a trace. Pretty nifty exit, Id have to say. At that
moment, everyone was just looking at me with the weirdest look in their eyes. Sarah
especially, knowing me being a Conjurer had nothing to do with being a Nightwind
Summoner.

Okay, Ken, Sarah told me, finding the whole summoning of Orvarlex to be
totally out of her league. Spill the beans. How the heck did you bring that tiny, talking
dragon out of nowhere? I know that didnt come from what Juto had taught you back in
the mage tower. Was that even a Apex Decagram spell or what?
Okay, while you were out shopping, I laughed, knowing my little secret was
out. I came across and joined a tiny guild called the Nightwind Summoners. To make a
long story short, I joined up with them. Being a Nightwind Summoner allows you to call
upon Nightwind Guardians for help, like you just saw.
Yeah, but Mark started, not really looking at me like it was all that
impressive, youre only entitled to little dragons and stuff?
Okay, I knew it didnt look like much now but whatever, if I kept going, he
wouldnt be saying that when I really got into the higher ranks and brought out stuff that
would make him pee his pants just from the sight of them.
Its based on rank, I told Mark, knowing it was something that needed to be
built up in time the same way Conjuration was. After getting a painful tattoo carved into
your left side, you start off as an initiate and work your way up. Only thing is, they're
running really low on followers. Figures expensive and painful initiation procedures
probably is the reason. That, and the place sure didn't advertise very much.
"How did you join a second school of magic?" Sarah asked, looking baffled at
that.
"Well, it's not part of the Apex Decagram, it's its own thing," I told her, "Heck,
there might even be more like it."
Well, that was that. Mark wasnt too interested, Jeff really didnt think he needed
it, and Sarah just thought it was too weird for her. I guess that was good considering
paying another ten grands worth of gold would leave us pretty broke, besides the fact I
really didnt want to walk all the way back to Lashira and figure out what street that place
was on.
Shortly after, Mark pressed his foot against the red crocodiles head and wrestled
his sword out. After that, he threw it back in his leather scabbard and picked up his bow.
Meanwhile, I just looked at all the carnage we had done. Five crocodiles burnt to a crisp,
one with less of a brain than before, three with giant ventilation holes complements of
Jeff, one laying in a puddle of his one blood and the other stuck to the ground with a bone
spear coming out of his mouth. Our parents would be proud of the carnage their children
caused.
Slowly, we made our way into the abandoned town of Opalstone, just in case
there were any others that were just waiting to snap at us. Meanwhile, as we walked
among the giant shell houses and debris, I tried to look for what could possibly be an
entrance to an underground chamber.
We walked around for a short while, killing off a few more of those ugly
crocodiles and some weird boar and rat hybrid creatures that needed to be put out of their
misery. Even though we had killed at least of dozen of these stupid things all over the
place, I still heard noises here and there, so there were probably still a few more lurking
around. Still, we checked the houses here and there, looking for some kind of chamber
entrance.
The houses around here were a mess. Everyone probably left in a hurry and never
came back from the looks of it. Meanwhile, with all the vermin running around, there

sure wasn't a Black Friday sale on the real estate of his place. Most of these houses were
ancient and crumbling apart and the stuff inside was in even worse condition. Still
probably better than the inside of Al's car, however.
Some rare, few things were intact, though. Most of it was stuff I didn't need or
couldn't carry, but I did find books, and every now and then, I found a magic book.
Reading it by Seal Siphoning still worked nicely, but there was still nothing on Celestial
Rifts. But I did learn a few things out of it. Other books were out of my school. If I
started trying to learn illusion now, I'd be screwing myself later by getting mixed up with
the casting incantations that were needed for conjuration. So adios to those.
"Anyone find anything yet?" Sarah asked as we met back outside.
"Mostly jus' stuff," Mark replied, shrugging. "No vaults."
We went at it a little more, and shortly after, I caught sight of something in a small
courtyard they built out of carved shells and coral that was now falling apart. It looked
like stone and not made of seashells like everything else here was.
I took a closer look at it and I saw that is wasnt just a stone slab, it was actually a
flight of stairs leading downward once the stone slab covering was slid away. Something
had caused it to move just a crack, and it was enough for me figure out there was
something under it. Seemed a little more promising than all the other crappy dead ends I
had run into with the rest of this town.
"Hey guys," I told the others, signaling with my hands to get their attention rather
than scream it out and attract more freaky creatures over here. "Check this out, this might
be something."
After rejoining me around this stone slab thing, they took a look at it and it
seemed to lead to at least something underground. The four of us grabbed the entrance
covering and shoved it aside, fully opening up the stairway that led below. The stone
stairs looked like they hadn't been used in years, so it made me wonder if this was really
it.
Come on, lets go, I told the others, heading down the stairs.
Wet, murky, and reeked with the smell of seawater. The floor after the last step
was covered with water. The last step of the weathering stone stairs was a nice foot depth
of water. After stepping in with my right foot, I got that wonderful feeling of having a wet
sneaker with fully soaked socks, the kind you get after going on a water rapids ride at an
amusement park and some jerk who already knows the ride turned the raft so youd hit
the waterfalls instead of him. Still, I just stepped in and the others soon followed. Jeff
didnt even have sneakers anymore to think about, Sarah didnt like the idea of wading in
dirty, stagnant water too much, and Mark didnt care.
We made our way forward, heading down the dimly lit stone passage with our feet
totally wet, sloshing through the water. We kept going on until it got pretty dark inside.
So, I quickly grabbed one of the burnt out torches, set it on fire with a little fire bolt spell
of mine, and once again, we could see thanks to the flickering glow of the torch.
Thankfully there werent any more crocs down here, I would have hated to have to fight
them in the dark like this.
Eventually, we had arrived in a small circular chamber made of white stone with a
large pedestal in the center of the room. At the end of the room was a large, circular
entrance way with some kind of weird, magical barrier around it. It was a strange,
purplish and black color.

After climbing a few white stone steps upward, we were back on dry ground. I
could barely see what this all was, so I quickly grabbed the four unlit torches in the room
and set them aflame again, filling the room with plenty of light to see. The flickering
lights created a lot of shadows, but hey, it wasn't like this place had a light switch.
We got a better look at the pedestal and the chamber entrance, and already I had a
feeling this was definitely the place. I looked at the magical barrier covering the chamber
entrance and did a little detect magic on it. Wow. The pinging feeling in my brain was
going nuts and I knew that was definitely not something that could be easily undone.
"This... this definitely has to be the place," Sarah told the rest of us as she looked
around.
"Yeah, no kidding," I told her, figuring we all probably knew that by now. "For
the record, I wouldn't try touching or messing with this barrier. Might fry or swallow your
hand off."
"Duly noted," Jeff replied, not really liking the look of this thing.
I tried to look through the barrier, but I could only see for about fifteen feet before
the stone passage went downward. After that, I had no clue where the rest of it went. It
could go down for miles or for just another few feet for all we knew.
"Weird, huh?" Mark asked me, also trying to look beyond the barrier. "What do ya
think is down there?"
"Not sure, but I'm game for finding out," I told him with a confident smile.
After turning around, I noticed the circular center stone pedestal had four sockets
carved in on the surface. I closely looked at each socket and saw the first socket had a
carved image of a burning sun, the second one had a maple leaf, the third was a
snowflake and the last one was a flower. It was pretty much how Tarka described it. As
for trying to trick this lock, yeah, good luck. Wasn't happening.
After looking around for a few more minutes, we pretty much found it exactly
how Tarka described it, but I didn't see anything beyond that. There were no secret
backup levers or tricks to this thing. Getting the four key gems was definitely the only
way anyone was ever going to get this thing open.
And I thought this mission wasnt going to be insanely hard. We were about to
find out this was going to be a nightmare of a task like nothing we could ever imagine
Chapter 5 The Path Divided
I knew there was nothing I had in my magical arsenal that could hack this lock,
and I highly doubted Sarah had anything either. That was the problem, conjurers and
necromancers just didn't deal with this kind of stuff. I could sense the strong magic in it,
and it was pretty powerful, especially in the barrier itself. These Paltaria guys were pretty
paranoid about making sure this place wasn't having a grand reopening any time soon.
Plus I could bet they were getting a kick out of peeving off the Silver Vanguard as they
sent people to try and figure this thing out. Kind of like leaving a 20x20 Rubik's Cube on
someone's desk and laughing about how they didn't get any work done.
"Yeah, definitely looks like we need to do this real way," Mark pretty much
concluded. "One of you still has that Terasphere, right?"
I put down my bag of stuff and fished for it. After I pulled it out, I put it on the
pedestal. I wasn't so sure about this Paltaria place, though. Tarka's quadruple the amount

warning about Fluxeons facing racial changes and Kirvesta telling me the place was bad
luck to anyone from the outside didn't exactly promote the place, but whatever, what did
they know?
I was still kidding myself by pretending I was ready and okay with the whole idea
of getting transformed into a whole other race like Jeff here. Looking at the former
football jock now all black, scaly, dragon-winged, and ferocious convinced me this was
not something to enjoy. The whole time, I had been fighting like a nutcase to try and
avoid it, hoping Id be smart or lucky enough to be that one guy that visited this place,
actually managed to come back, and not be the sucker that got turned into something
weird along the way.
With all the security on this place, I figured the Amethyst Chamber had to be a
gold mine of crazy awesome stuff, including something on Celestial Rifts and maybe
even the things we needed to transform Jeff back and anyone else that might have gotten
bushwhacked by stuff around here.
"So, are you guys ready?" Sarah asked, looking first at the Terasphere and then at
the rest of us. "Really not much more we can do here right now, but at least we found the
place."
Definitely true. Still, I was beginning to wonder why the Silver Vanguard
specifically wanted Fluxeons as prospects for this mission. Was there actually an
intention for us to get transformed into something else over there? But then again, they
were totally fine with Jeff the Draco. I figured if they wanted us to get close to these
Paltaria Guardians, obviously to do that, we needed to look like we were lost and stupid
with no idea where we were going around there.
"I'm ready," Jeff told Sarah. "But don't mention to anyone there about what we're
doing. In fact, anything we brought from Taramas, including clothing, tools, money, and
equipment should be left behind."
And here Sarah just brought all this stuff she couldn't use. Jeff was right though, if
they even so much as caught us with Taramas money, that could be a giveaway. These
two places really didn't like each other from the sound of it, and I didn't feel like
discovering just how much that was the hard way.
"Seriously?" Sarah asked, obviously thinking that was overkill. "I just got all this
stuff. How are we supposed to survive over there with just the clothes on our backs?"
"Yeah, he's right," Mark agreed with defeated shrug, dropping his bags. "Gotta do
it somehow. We have to act like we only jus' arrived over there. Better whip out your
regular clothes."
Sarah just sucked her teeth with irritation, but did realize that yeah, we couldn't
risk it. She dropped her bags as well and left them by the stone pedestal.
That left Sarah, Mark, and myself wearing exactly what we had been wearing
since the first day we got here. I figured it was probably the best way to trick Paltaria into
thinking we were lost humans without any idea as to where we were. At least here, we'd
be slightly more prepared. But in the meantime, I saw Sarah and Mark were still wearing
those god-forsaken, crappy Camp Brigham t-shirts.
"Alright, let's get this thing going," I told the others, grabbing the Terasphere.
"Think we've spent enough time here."
We then placed our hands on the Terasphere, and then we closed our eyes. Even
with the magic knowledge I did have, I wasn't exactly sure how this thing worked, but it

seemed to be doing something. I felt this weird, icy feeling in my hand, starting from my
fingers, then into the palm of my hand, and then all the way up my arm. And then, all of a
sudden, I just felt like I was instantly swallowed in and felt like I was whisked away at a
million miles an hour in pure darkness. And then it just stopped. The only thing I could
hear and feel was a slight gust of wind, but besides that, nothing.
I then opened my eyes, and realized we were already at the Nexus Gate. I looked
around and realized Nexus was more like a professionally-made Stonehenge the size of a
baseball field. It was a gray, circular-shaped stone plate with that large central shard of
stone that Tarka was talking about. The central white stone stuck up like a giant, fat pillar,
probably about two stories tall. As for the rest of Nexus, there were a few smaller, arcane,
white stones, looking like a bunch really long teeth surrounding the edge with spaces
between them. A really weird kind of place.
"Open your eyes, looks like we're already here," I told the others.
Seemed like all of us thought it would have taken longer, but it was actually pretty
quick. Everyone took their hands off the Terasphere except for Jeff, who just stored it
away in one of his leather pouches.
Thankfully we were the only ones around. After looking at Nexus, I then looked
beyond it, and saw the beginning of each country. Now that was even weirder. All I had
to do was turn around and the seasons changed. Looking forward, there were grassy
fields. Right behind us, snow. I was right, Paltaria was seriously deranged. You could tell
which zone was which just by the grass and the trees, and there was virtually no
transition from one to the next. If you were walking from Summerfield to Autumnvale,
you definitely knew where the border was.
Well, Sarah said to the rest of us, realizing the light had died down, this
definitely looks like the place. Like Tarka suggested, were going to have to split up.
Okay, I told Sarah, Jeff and Mark, figuring it was probably the best way to
handle this. Let's just make this easy. Like Tarka said, everyone gets a region, but let's
meet back here if anything happens. This place seems ignored enough. If you get the
Guardian's gem by yourself, awesome, you rock, but if you find its too much of a
hemorrhoid, dont be an idiot and get yourself killed. Just come back here and well help
you out.
Then, Mark brought up another interesting situation that yeah, was definitely
needed to make clear between the four of us, as little as I liked talking about it.
Okay, Im cool with that, Mark replied, nodding his head. Also, if one of us
goes through a racial change an' comes back here, give the rest of us a thumbs up to let us
know that youre not a real Paltarian citizen an' that youre one of us. Should be simple,
right?"
Jeff tried to make a thumbs up with one of his claws, trying to see if that idea was
any good. He sort of had it, good enough for me anyway.
"It'll pass," Jeff replied at the look of his claw.
"Yeah, not like you're ever going to be much of a hitchhiker with that," I laughed.
He just gave me that look, even though Mark and Sarah did find that to be a bit
funny.
So who gets what? I asked, looking at the three of them.

Ill take Wintershire, Jeff volunteered, showing initiative for once. With all this
scaled skin, I can resist the cold better than the three of you can without winter jackets.
Starting fires would be easier as well. As for the other three, thats up to you.
Thank you, Jeff, because I seriously didnt feel like going there to freeze my butt
off. I definitely wasn't wearing the clothing for winter weather either. Hadn't done so for
years considering we lived in a freaking desert. As for what to take, I really didn't care.
"Which one do ya want, bro?" Mark asked me.
"Pick whatever, I don't care," I replied.
We nearly sat there for an extra minute, not really sure what season we felt like
being plunged into.
Fine, Sarah told the two of us impatiently, realizing our passive approach meant
the decision was up to her. Since the two of you really dont want to choose, Ill choose
for you. Mark, you take Autumnvale, Ken, you take Springside, and Ill take
Summerfield. Happy?
"Works for me," Mark replied, glancing toward the place.
Yeah, sure, I told her, just shrugging it off.
I could tell all of us felt a little uneasy knowing we'd now be lost in this weird
world of Marsaras by ourselves now, but I tried not to think too deeply about it.
"Well, this is it," Sarah told us, hoping this wouldn't be the last we saw of each
other. "Good luck, guys."
"Yeah, same to you," Jeff replied, getting ready to head out.
"Cheers," I told the others, just trying to keep it casual and not sentimental. "Hang
in there and see you later."
"Ditto," Mark replied.
Once we were set, we then all headed in separate directions. Jeff flew off toward
the snowy region of Wintershire, Mark walked toward to the leaf-plastered ground of
Autumnvale, Sarah headed off toward the grassy area of Summerfield, and I walked
toward the flowery field of Springside. I figured it might feel strange being in this messed
up world all by myself now, even for just a little while, but I figured I could handle this
my way and not have anyone gripe about my style of creative freedom. Still, I sure hoped
this wasn't going to be the last I would ever see of those three, because that would just be
morbid and I wouldn't have a clue what to do about it.
As I stepped off the stone plate of Nexus and plunged into the field of flowers,
first thing I noticed was the temperature change. Surprisingly, it was actually quite
comfortable, made me glad I was wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans at that moment and not
anything more or less. Again, I was glad Jeff took Wintershire, because the stuff I was
wearing now wouldn't do jack squat against icy winds and snow. But in the meantime,
this was nice, it wasn't face-melting heat like Arizona.
For miles, it looked like there was nothing but truckloads of tulips, daisies, irises,
lilies, and other colorful flowers that I knew didnt exist on Earth. Flowery countryside
wasnt exactly my kind of thing, and this place seemed to be addicted to all things florarelated.
Meanwhile, I tried not to touch anything because I didn't want to find out that the
pollen and crap I got on my jeans wasn't "Fluxeon-proof." Tarka's words quadruple the
amount still stuck in my mind, but I still felt lucky enough that I might just dodge it. I

got this far already. But if it happened, I just hoped it was something bearable and was
something that could be easily undone.
As I walked through that field of flowers totally alone, trying to find some kind of
life around here, I couldnt help but think how much I would have loved to have my MP3
player and listen to Snake Lash and Slamming Armageddon to kill the boring silence,
but I had to sell that for better things. Plus I doubted an MP3 player would have saved
my butt from those weird red crocodiles in Opalstone like those fireballs did. The only
thing I had left was the Snake Lash t-shirt I was wearing. Of course, not a soul here
would ever know what the heck the shirt was referring to. I was sure it looked pretty out
of place in this field of colorful flowers.
After a few hours of more walking, more flowers, and more pink blossoming
trees, there were still no signs of intelligent life besides strange and oddly colored forest
and field animals. I swear, I didnt see what was so hard about taking this continent over.
There was no one here. How hard could this possibly be for the Silver Vanguard League
and the Infernal Legion that fighting a nation with barely anyone in it was that hard? This
was a joke, something really wasnt making any sense here. Was it only because
powerful, beefed up Celestial-Circle wizards could send people to Nexus? Maybe. We did
kind of take the backdoor into this place.
After totally losing track of time and letting my mind wander around, I finally
came across something. First thing that caught my eyes was the massive wood and stone
city in the distance, filled to the brink with pastel colors. As I got closer, it pretty much
looked like an old English town gone ballistic for everything Easter. Besides it was a pink
and white forest, and every single tree in there only had its spring blossoms on with not a
single leaf in existence. It was really weird thinking because of this place and it's loony
spring season-locked conditions, they would always be stuck like that forever more, and
never actually have leaves. That just screwed with my mind.
I was on the fence whether to check the city out or not, but as I got closer, I saw I
didn't have much choice. As luck would have it, there was a wide river in front of the
forest that I didnt see before. Meanwhile, it seemed like the only bridge to get across was
in that ridiculous town itself, and probably buried deep in the middle of it seeing as how
the town was built all around this river. Judging by how fast the water was moving and
the millions of magical or insane things or creatures of horror it could possibly be filled
with, I took my chances entering the town. I figured I needed to learn where the
Springside Guardian was anyway. Maybe, if I acted enough of an idiot, someone might
tell me all about Springside and the Guardian without me suspiciously coming on too
obvious by specifically asking about the Guardian.
Besides, that river looked wide and the words "quadruple the amount" might as
well be a flashing Vegas sign in my face. I wasn't really ready to change race yet,
especially not something fish-related, so I figured I could stall a bit more.
After walking my way in and finding my way into the streets of this weird town,
everything I knew about reality just shot itself in the head. Just like that. Pink cobbled
streets, pastel-colored houses, flower bins and baskets that was just the beginning of
this whacky place. Everything seemed bright and cheerful... but too much so.
I got a good look at this places citizens and yep, my Easter theories were
confirmed. First of the bunch I saw were these weird anthro bunny people, each of them
standing like five feet tall and walking around on their hind legs in clothing like people

do. From where I come from as a state of sanity, bunnies belong in cages, not clothing.
Although the thought of making one of them wear my Snake Lash t-shirt would actually
be a riot, but not enough to actually try.
Among the bunny people were others that looked like bluebirds and robins with
humanoid bird bodies, tail feathers, small beaks, and hands embedded in their wings.
Reminded me a lot of what TalRee and the other Lintuans looked like, only with
different feather colors and beaks. Plus, while TalRee that raven guy really didnt care
what he looked like, these weird Lintuans were totally stuck-up in their appearance and
wore formal clothing a little kid would scream at if their parents forced them to put it on.
Another bunch of them were these flower people. Green skin, skirts made of
flower petals with more flowers around their waist, back, head, and wrists. They didn't
wear any clothing because... yeah, there's no way they'd be able to put it on or take it off.
And everyone seemed too freaking happy and way too polite. Everyone was
good day this and how do you do? and other goodie-goodie inanity that made it clear
this place needed to be invaded by a head-banging metal band concert.
After seeing all that, I knew this was not the place I wanted to start with when it
came to finding where the Springside Guardian was. There had to be another town
around here that was less of a spring circus. I just tried to keep out of sight, using every
empty alley I could to keep away from anyone that could be looking around.
I shifted my thought process back to find the bridge and get the heck out. That
was becoming tough, however. I felt like I was losing my bearings and trying to find the
place in town that should have had a bridge kept me running into dead ends and it quickly
became an Easter theme maze. Even backtracking to go to the entrance I used was getting
me nowhere.
For a while, I stayed in a dead-end alley I had stumbled into until it was safe to
run across a large courtyard with pastel stones and a large fountain. I decided I had to
time it when no one would be watching. But it was almost freaking impossible, there
were so many of them. I was surprised this wasnt a 1969 Woodstock concert I walked
into, and the mellow and downright boring music they were playing somewhere in town
was distracting and mind-grating to me. After waiting four minutes for there to be less
citizens walking around and hopefully be in the clear to dash across the courtyard, I
finally got a moment when there was finally no one passing by and was just about to
break out and make a run for it until I was interrupted
Hello there and welcome to our beautiful city of Floranta! I heard an overly
enthusiastic female voice cheer to me in what almost sounded like a song.
Holy crap, I freaking jumped when I heard that. I stopped dead in my tracks and
instantly went into improvise and be ready to fabricate crap mode.
I turned around to see who was talking to me, and I saw another one of those
flower people, this time totally up close. So much for going unnoticed. She was smiling,
light green skin, pink, red, orange, and yellow flowers all over her head, her wrists, her
back, her waist, freaking everywhere. Her whole lower half was an entire skirt of flower
petals and her back had one big pink, red, orange, and yellow flower that was way bigger
than any flower I had ever seen before. It was freaking ridiculous. Whatever, I just
wanted to make this painful and meaningless conversation quick just to get it over with
so I could continue getting the heck out of this compost heap. When I took a quick glance

back out to see if the courtyard was empty, I saw my only opportunity to make a run for it
was totally gone. Thanks for nothing, bouquet girl.
Hey I told her in an indifferent voice, making for small talk while I was still
looking out and not really paying too much attention to her, Hows it going?
Im very well, thank you, She replied in a melodious tone with a curtsy, looking
at me with an untrustworthy happy smile I saw out of the corner of my eye. Say
youre new here, right? You havent heard of the monthly Floranta contest, have you?
Ha, ha, whatever. Seriously, I didnt see what she saw in me that indicated I would
give a bull crap about any kind of contest this insane asylum was hosting here. I was
tempted to just tell her to just buzz off, but who knows how many people she would start
tattle-telling once she got offended or sad about it. I didnt need anyone else on my back
at the moment, so this was probably one of the few situations where Id actually give
patience a chance and make this little encounter as uneventful as possible so I could go
right back to being ignored by these loonies. Meanwhile, the one area in town I needed to
cross through was still infested with Easter creatures galore running around. Not even a
freaking master ninja could sneak their way past all of that. I was really beginning to
think I might be better off backtracking out of town and then try my luck with the river.
Not a chance I told her, turning my glance away from her at the moment.
Well, She continued, insisting this conversation be as long and agonizing as
possible, its a contest we have every month, and the winner receives two thousand
Paltaria platinum pieces. Sounds great, right?
I didnt know. For one thing, I didnt have a single ounce of money on me any
more, and I didnt know how far I was going to get without any Paltaria cash on my
hands. Winning a little money maybe wasn't a bad thing considering I was walking
around without a dime on me and basically in full hobo mode. But after I thought long
and hard about it and considered all my options, I really didnt trust the sanity of this city,
and to me, this could have been a nicely cooked up sham. With a little bit of luck, I could
be out of here quickly and wouldnt need any cash. I doubted these guys knew anything
about the Guardian or the key gem for the Amethyst Chamber anyway.
No thanks, not interested, I told her, looking back toward the other direction to
check for a clearing again.
When she was silent, I was relieved thinking she was finally going away for once
to go bother someone else. So I went back to checking for an opening in the seemingly
unending mob, taking my eyes off of her, thinking she'd just walk away to go be someone
else's problem. But no, she didn't go away like I thought she would, and come a few
seconds later, her buzzing off was exactly what didnt happen.
I heard the sound of scraping metal, and then when I looked to see what it was
that did that, I found that same flower girl sticking a surgically sharp dagger to my neck,
one that they even tried to make pretty with pastel colors on the handle and flowers
engraved in the blade itself, as if that's the kind of thing blood should be splattered all
over. Words couldnt describe how humiliated I felt at that moment. I should have stuffed
my fist in her face when I had the chance
Okay, Ill be honest with you, She told me, sounding a whole lot less cheerful
than before. Fluxeons are highly forbidden in Floranta. I dont know how you managed
to make it all the way over here, but something about this is going to have to change.
Right now.

Ha, ha, I nearly laughed with psychotic insanity, figuring this could actually
work for both of us. Okay, perfect. Show me the way out of this stupid place and
whatever freak show youve got going-
Im afraid its way too late for that, She interrupted me with a dark stare in her
cold, blue eyes. I hate shedding blood in a place that supposed to be happy and cheerful
like this. With that in mind, if you really want to live, I highly suggest you come with me,
shut up, and act like this never happened, got it?
Wow, her attitude sure took an epic 180 spin. As much as I would have loved to
stuff a fireball in her face, she would notice my flaming hands in no time and I would
find myself with a few more holes in my neck and jugular vein when she would go into a
psychosis killing spree. She grabbed my arms, bound them behind my back with some
pink-colored rope, and started pushing me along at knifepoint like an angry mother
yanking a child through a playground after they stuffed a popsicle down another kids
pants.
I felt like a total idiot being outfoxed by a psychotic flower girl and there was
nothing I could do about it without jumping my notoriety with this town to astronomical
levels. I swore, she was the last person here who I thought would be hiding weapons on
her. Meanwhile, I was just hoping shed lead me to the first exit out of here and kick me
out of town. Certainly would make my job easier. Maybe that was all she was doing
anyway. I could live with that.
She pushed through the psychotic town of Floranta like a freaking eagle, knowing
way more about this city than I did. Rushing through alleyways, in and around buildings,
and everywhere she needed to go to drag me where she wanted while keeping me out of
sight, as if laying eyes on me caused cancer to these people. Meanwhile, she kept that
stupid-looking knife in her hands the entire time. Still, I could have kicked myself at that
moment. If I had the street smarts to go through this place like she did, I would have been
out of here way sooner than she would have noticed me.
After she pulled me down a quiet and empty alleyway, I then found myself in an
open plaza, with more pink tiling on the ground, four blossoming trees in a diamond
formation with pink petals on them, and all the way toward the end, another one of those
stupid bunny people sitting at a wooden desk and surrounded by an open air office setting
with all kinds of parchments and papers laying around on cabinets and bookshelves.
Great, as if I really wanted to meet one of these idiots now.
The flower girl dragged me all the way to the bunny guy, and then forced me on
my knees. I took a look around and realized there was no one here but the three of us and
the only exits were behind the bunny guy and the way we came in. So much for thinking
shed actually help me get the heck out of this psychosis.
Youve gotten better at this, havent you, Starflower? The bunny dude told her,
Thankfully, I havent heard any news of his arrival.
Comes with practice, thankfully he was spotted early, That flower girl told him
with a wink in her eye, only now cutting the binding off of my hands with her cutesy
knife. You take care of the rest, Demetri.
After getting back up and rubbing my wrists, she left, deceptively skipping out of
there and back to the alleyway like everything was fine and everything was good and no
one would ever know she was the freaking knife-flinging psychopath I knew she really
was. Man, how I would have loved to give her a wild fireball hibachi experience when

she was doing that, but I doubted I would have gotten very far out of here on assault and
battery charges.
This bunny guy looked like some kind of administrator or some high-ranking
bureaucrat like that. I didn't know what these people's problems were, but this kind of
humiliating maze and hostage game was grinding away my nerves.
I suppose now you realize this is nothing about a contest, Demetri the rabbit
said to me when I wasnt even looking at him.
I sized him up to get a good idea about what this fuzzface was really made of. He
looked like all the others I had seen, but this time the schmuck seemed to be a little
fancier. Moronically long bunny ears, pink nose, white fur and wearing a dark blue vest
and a monocle on his right eye. A total personified rabbit. This was just idiotic. The
whole freaking town was stuffed with lunacy like this and it was only getting worse every
bloody minute I was here.
Yeah, I'm not stupid, I told him, pretty sure this was going totally the opposite
way of what I had intended. What was all that crap about, because Id sure love to know
why you had me dragged all the way down here by that murderous flowerpot psycho of
yours when I was just looking for the exit. Who are you anyway?
Still, Demetri refused to answer my questions. Instead, he simply leaned over,
pulled out a fancy-looking drinking glass and a two-gallon glass jug of water from a
wooden cabinet like he was getting wine to celebrate, and placed them on the wooden
desk he was sitting at. Then, he proceeded to fill the glass of water from the jug, and once
it was full, he put the jug back down. I had absolutely no idea was this was about. Two
gallons of water, seriously, was the interrogation supposed to be this bad? What exactly
was he expecting to get out of me anyway?
Its rather simple, Demetri told me, looking at me in the eyes as he pushed the
glass and the bottle before me. All I want you to do is drink this one cup of water. Thats
all. Do that and I will act like this never happened and give you two thousand of
Paltarias platinum pieces if youre a good sport about it. But, if you want more water,
thats up to you.
I burst out laughing. Really, I thought the water was for him at first, but now it
was making sense and man, these people were dumb. This guy definitely thought I was
extremely slow to catch on. Oh, of course, Mister Peter Rabbit, that sounds like a great
idea! Was this guy kidding me? Come on, I knew for a fact this was adding up to
something. No Fluxeons allowed in Floranta, of course that water was contaminated with
some magical psychosis. I put my two hands on the desk, got up in his face, and told him
off. Nobody scams me like that and gets away with it.
You really think Im that stupid, dont you? I asked him, spitting it right in
Demetris face. Try finding some other gullible loser to drink that crap. No Fluxeons
allowed in Floranta. Thats exactly what your knife-flinging bouquet girl told me just
before she threw me here. I can do the math, obviously that waters tainted. So now tell
me what happens after a Fluxeon finds out you're a filthy liar before they drink that crap.
That certainly set him off. Next thing I knew, he whipped out a metal wand with a
large yellow crystal on the top and stuck it in my face, almost like he was about to ram it
up my nose and see if he could somehow pluck my brain out with it. Crap, I honestly
didn't think this bunny freak would whip out yet another weapon to make people eat their
words with.

Considering the way that wand thing was glowing with tiny little thunderbolts
forking out of it here and there as if the wand could barely contain them, I wasnt about to
ask what the heck that thing could do, but I figured zapping off my face with lightning
was probably a good guess. I almost thought he was going to kill me right there but was
relieved he didn't.
The Wand of Zanix, He told me in an angry voice, letting me know what that
thing was. This is what happens, you disrespectful brat. The strike of a million bolts of
lightning would be just a second away. Theres not a chance in the world that you would
be able to get away. Look around you. Theres no one here to see you fall or hear you
scream.
"You're just sick, you know that?" I told him, really resenting this guy. "What kind
of deranged bunny freak are you?"
"The proper term is Kanikin," He corrected me as he kept a death-grip on that
wand, watching me with his beady bunny eyes. "The choice is yours, Fluxeon, and so is
the consequence. Don't be a fool, now, I'm sure the choice between a little water and
instant death is an easy one."
Just to make sure this wasn't some kind of stupid bluff I was falling for, I focused
a bit on that wand to see if it was real, and all it took was a little magical sense to tell that
thing was definitely a fully-loaded shotgun of thunder he was walking around with. I
swore, this Floranta place was definitely pissing me off. This town made you think
everyone should have been cute, dumb, and harmless when really they were walking
around with more concealed weapons than a mafia gang.
This was really the last thing I needed right now. Still, he knew nothing about the
Silver Vanguard, about Sarah, Mark, and Jeff, and what the four of us were out doing
with getting the keys to unlock the Amethyst Chamber. At least he wasn't expecting me to
confess about that stuff. In fact, this whole thing had nothing to do about why I was here
in the first place, just about what he wanted me to do. At least I had that much going for
me. I figured I could keep up the game and make him think I was just a lone, lost Fluxeon
who stumbled in here and was clueless about where to go.
I slowly backed away, got out of his face and realized I was totally out of options.
Everything was riding on the four of us getting these gems, so if I failed, the others were
screwed also. And I really didn't feel like being the weakest link in this whole mission.
As much as Demetri tried to look cute, even when he was angry, I saw him for the
backwards, spineless maggot he really was. And inside, I knew he was only a little coldblooded sadist that needed to rely on magical wands because he was too pathetic to use
his own skills, if he even had any. Kanikin... seriously, who the heck put these maniacal
bunnies in charge?
I clenched my fists as I looked at the water he wanted me to drink. Suicide, I
knew that stuff was contaminated, but I knew he wasnt going to let me out of here
without drinking it. Either die at the hands of this bunny for epic fail humiliation, or drink
the water and wince and scream at what was to become of me and devise some kind of
brutal payback on him later. I really didnt want to go through a racial change at this
freaking moment but my time was up and I knew it. And besides, we were going to need
something to transform Jeff back anyway. My only hope was that this wouldnt be
painful. Plus, I could do payback. I was good at that.

Just one glass, right? I asked him again in a frustrated tone, swearing thats
what he said before in case he felt like making this misery even worse with a higher ante
to suffer through. Thats all? I swear I heard you say that.
Thats it, very painless, He told me, putting the wand aside but still keeping it
easily within reach. But you can have more if you want it.
Yeah right, one glass and I was done with this stupid game, forget about having
more. It was bad enough I was giving in to this freak when I seriously didnt want to. I
grabbed the glass of water, and just looked at it closely. It looked totally normal, but I
knew there was something behind it. Even though I was zoned-out half the time, I at least
knew enough from chemistry class that even hydrochloric acid looked like water, so
going off of looks was a dumb idea. Still, I was sick of prolonging the inevitable and
feeding this sadistic rabbits control freak ego as he watched me squirm.
I'm telling you, whatever this stuff does, it's going to hurt you more than it's
going to hurt me, I told him, knowing he won this battle but not the war, Youve struck
a side of me you really shouldnt have pissed off, and youll regret it.
I took the glass and starting drinking it slowly, hoping there was some possible
way to resist whatever nightmare this stuff was packing or possibly vomit it out as soon
as I got the chance to run away. However, I knew I was seriously screwed when I started
tasting it. It felt like I was drinking hyper-charged, apocalyptically-addictive sugar water
that put everything else Ive ever drunk before to serious shame.
In only a few seconds of a total loss of sanity, I went through the entire glass
perfectly, but at a time when I really should have stopped, I couldnt. My knees were
getting weak, my hands were out of control, and I was in a total frenzy. I swore, drinking
that stuff put my throat and mind into a total freaking ecstasy. I went insane, much to
Demetris delight. I then did the most moronic thing I could have done and grabbed the
jug, and started drinking right out of it, as if the feeling of nirvana suddenly mindcontrolled me. And man, I couldnt understand why I had gotten so craved over the water
to carefully make sure not a precious drop of it was wasted by running down my chin or
by getting splashed all over the place.
I shut my eyes and everything disappeared. Every drop that entered my mouth felt
like a taste of total paradise, and for a moment, I wasnt even thinking about anything
else. It was like I turned off reality and found ceaseless pleasure in my own insanity. I
wanted to wake up and stop but I couldnt. It lasted for so long and the whole entire time,
I was trapped in this dream paradise that made me lose my mind and forget about what
was going to happen when I woke up.
And then, after a long and blissful dream, just like that, it stopped and everything
slowly vanished away. All the sweet and perfect sensations gradually faded back into
harsh reality, and I realized there was no longer water coming out of the jug and I was
actually stupidly disappointed for a minute before snapping back to my senses and
remembering where I actually was. I put the whole blasted thing back down on the table
and just looked at it, only now getting control of myself again.
I could have shot myself at the sight. It was a god-forsaken two-gallon container,
there was no freaking way in the world I could have guzzled down that entire thing even
if I wanted to, and yet somehow I did.

I just stood there, shocked and delirious. I just wanted to puke it back out but no
dice. I could ram a toothbrush down my throat and it wouldn't work. I looked over to
Demetri and he just smiled for a quick moment.
Fluxeons can never, ever have just one glass, Demetri chuckled, just looking at
me. But Ive never seen anyone drink the entire jug down. You did well, I think you
really deserve this. I found your surrender to be very entertaining, quite frankly.
And then, he gently placed the bag filled with the money on the desk, like it was
just there to mock me. I would have wanted to smack his face for saying that, but
physically I didn't even want to budge. Meanwhile, I felt strange, and I knew I was so
screwed. There was no way to vomit the water out and it was already starting to take
effect. I backed away, knowing it was over and I was done for. And it all just went
crashing into oblivion right after that
I watched in silent horror as my hair suddenly fell out and my skin turned green. I
knew something stupid like this was going to happen. I could have been given any
firearm at that moment and I would have adored firing it randomly in any direction out of
frustration and insanity. Preferably something large, loud, and destructive. And if I had
any sanity left after that, I would considering aiming it at him.
What the heck is this crap!? I shouted, looking at my own green hands.
Next thing I knew, I heard a massive shredding sound as my blue jeans were torn
to ribbons as a giant, three-layered bell-shaped skirt of purple, blue and turquoise-colored
flower petals suddenly bloomed forward out of my waist and went all the way down to
the ground. I just looked at them surrounding me and wanted to scream but was totally
paralyzed in shock. Best I could do was shut my eyes and just wince and cringe before
opening them again out of curiosity and fear for what was happening while cursing under
my breath. After seeing what that maniac Starflower looked like, I had a bad, bad feeling
I knew what was going to happen now. I was going to end up looking exactly like her,
and that was the last thing I wanted.
Shortly after, a whole belt of brightly-colored rainbow lily flowers formed right
above the bell-shaped flower petal skirt and around my waist, and I just looked at them
and shook my head. No way, this couldnt be really happening, this had to be a really
stupid nightmare. And then came the worst part. I felt a giant inflating bulb suddenly
growing out of my lower back, ripping the back of my gray Snake Lash t-shirt to ribbons,
leaving me totally naked without any clothing at all after the rest of the shirt limply
tumbled off. In shock, I just turned around to look at it, getting fatter and fatter like a
giant balloon before it opened up and bloomed into a massive, monster-sized eighteen
petal lily flower with purple, blue and turquoise colored petals in three layers. The whole
thing reached from the back of my knees, overlaying the stupid flower petal skirt I had
been painfully adorned with while the other side reached all the way past the back of my
head. Man, I couldnt even look behind me without having to push the flower petals of
this monstrous thing away. The size of this thing was freaking insane.
For the love of god, make it freaking STOP!!! I screamed in agony.
Still, despite my cries of torment, it carried on relentlessly. Next thing I knew, I
felt more lily flowers bloom out of my wrists as bracelets, with every freaking color on
the rainbow on them. I couldnt help but look down at them in desperation, and in doing
so, next thing I knew was those same lilies were forming a headband around my head,
covering my forehead and ears. And then, right when I thought already enough inhumane

damage had been caused, it was all finished off with another massive blue and purplecolored lily blooming right out of my head like I just opened up an umbrella over me. I
couldnt even see most of it but I could see the blue and purple ends of the petals hanging
down in front of me, and by judging how far the petals went around my head with their
tips dangling right in front of me, the thing must have been the size of a freaking extralarge sombrero. Only then did it decide that enough damage and agony had been caused
to allow itself to finally come to an end.
I couldn't even talk or move, I just stood there totally paralyzed. I really couldnt
think of how to describe how I felt at that moment but absolutely freaking miserable was
as good as I could get without piling on the obscenities. I felt smothered by flowers, and
in defeated dismay, I even tried seeing if I could rip them off, but it was impossible, I
might as well be trying to tear my own arm out. I couldnt believe it. Jeff, the ferocious
and menacing Draco and me, the cute and harmless lily flower. This this was a
freaking, catastrophic disaster
Chapter 6 The Veiled Warrior
Demetri was smiling and looking into my eyes admirably after I tried again and
again in rapidly escalating frustration and anger to rip the blasted flowers out like they
were hideous, parasitic, flesh-burrowing alien spawn crawling on me, but nothing
worked. I tried to tear anything I could off, starting with the giant petals around my waist,
then attacking the smaller ones once that didnt work, and then giving up and wincing
and covering my face with my hands when there was no freaking way to get any of this
lunacy off. Apparently, Demetri thought this was incredibly delightful. Apparently, I also
thought he was one of the worst, spineless freaks I had ever laid eyes on. I just looked at
myself again, first speechless, and then freaked out of my mind.
Oh my god! I couldnt help but shout in a new, slightly more melodic
tone of voice that had been forced on me through this. You... you senile, twisted freak!
What the crap did you just do to me!? I swear, if this is some sick joke of yours, you
better get your laughs in now while you still have a throat!
Not like I could have done anything even if I wanted to because Demetri was so
pathetic enough to need that stupid wand to defend his worthless cotton-carcass. But if he
didnt have that stupid wand of his, I gladly would have done that prior to all this hideous
pain. Heck, smashing the whole jug on his head didnt sound like that bad of an idea
either. And those were probably the least graphic of the murderous thoughts in my mind.
Well, its true what they say, Demetri told me with a smug grin, enjoying every
painful minute of this and totally ignoring my death threats. The more Sun Water they
drink, the more wonderful they look at the end. Heh, heh, maybe I should have brought a
bigger bottle. You looked like you were really enjoying it!
For crying out loud, shut that pissing mouth of yours! I spat at him angrily,
really not enjoying the sound of my new voice at all. I hope youre happy now, you
stupid maggot!
Oh, I am, I most definitely am, He nodded, obviously not knowing squat about
sarcasm. And so should you. The Lilyara are probably one of the most wonderful
creatures in all of Marsaras. Theyre so peaceful, talented, and to watch them dance and

sing in the afternoon breeze is a sight beyond wonderful. I do say, a most handsome
Lilyara such as yourself would probably be most welcome in those dances.
Is that what he expected me to do now? Dance and sing!? This guy was a real
bumbling idiot. I had to fight the urge to tear this guy apart into little, twisted puzzle
pieces but he still had that stupid Wand of Zanix sitting there only inches within his
reach. And it was awfully tempting to try it, but I knew trying to fight him would be
stupid, the most I could do was not give him the satisfaction of utterly harassing me. I
hated him so much it was unreal.
You seriously have no idea who I am, Demetri, I told him while avoiding eye
contact, trying hard not to make my new voice make my speech sound like a freaking
song. You would be wasting your time if you tried to push that kind of crap on me. I
suck at dancing and have no passion for it whatsoever. Look, you had your fun, now let
me get out of here for sanity's sake. I'm not doing it just because you think it would be
cute.
Oh, cute is an understatement, Demetri smiled to me as he leaned over wearing
a devious-looking grin. In fact, Id go as far as saying
And just when I expected him to say something inevitably moronic yet again, he
just stopped. Just stopped and looked at me with a bug-eyed, freaked out expression like
someone just kicked a soccer ball up his anus. I thought his brain was finally shutting
down from the severe excess of stupidity overload but as logical as that sounded, that
wasnt it. I looked at him curiously for a second, forgot about the stupid flowers for now,
expected him to possibly just became a rabbit zombie, and then I saw he was looking at
me with almost a look of disgust now. Plain freaking weird, I just didnt understand these
deranged bunny people.
That He stated in shock, looking at something on me with fear. No that
isnt what I think it is, is it? No it cant be! This would be too wrong!
I then tried to find exactly what he was staring at and I realized what it was. Yes,
there they were, in all their gothic tattoo glory. I thought the Apex Decagram insignia on
my left side and the Nightwind Summoners Sigil I had on my right would have been
mutilated with this ridiculous transformation into a flower-slathered Lilyara, but both of
them were still there, even though it really looked out of place to have such dark, gothiclooking tattoos next to a bunch of lily flowers. It was like using bloody barbed wire to
wrap up a flower bouquet or like a hand grenade among a batch of colorful cupcakes.
They totally train-wrecked the whole "colorful and handsome" thing Demetri was trying
to go for.
I realized what had happened. He had no idea I was a Apex Decagram Conjurer
mage and a Nightwind Summoner because the Snake Lash t-shirt I was wearing before
the transformation covered the insignias up. And now because the t-shirt was shredded to
ribbons because of this stupid mess, they were fully exposed. It was so priceless to see
his mortified reaction that it was almost worth it. Almost...
NO! Demetri shouted out in anger as he banged the desk with his fist, glaring at
me and sticking his fuzzy finger in my face. You're a conjurer mage of the Apex
Decagram AND a member of the Five Nightwind Clans!? No, that's impossible! How
could a Fluxeon be a member of not one but two magic guilds!? No... no... whatever life
you had before here is gone! You are a Lilyara now, you belong here in Floranta!

Five Nightwind Clans... well, that was news. My guess was there was more to
these "clans" than just the Summoners, but I figured with his stupid wand and political
position, he couldn't have been totally stupid when it came to magic and its organizations.
Tattoos like this you just don't forget too easily once you've them, and I was guessing the
four other clans probably had something similar going on like what the Apex Decagram
and Nightwind Summoners had.
Still, I could have laughed. I really, seriously could have freaking laughed at all of
this irony and karma payback, but I couldnt because of the crappy mood I was in, but at
least it was alleviating the damage and giving this nightmare at least some semblance of a
silver lining. It was about time this schmuck was feeling a nice dose of depression. If I
had any trace of compassion despite what he did, I probably could have helped him, but
you just cant fix stupid.
Yeah, I don't think so, I stared him down with a snicker, adding to his misery.
"Ha, wow, those caught you off guard, didn't they?"
No! Demetri complained again. You must realize this isnt your destiny!
Lilyaras are supposed to be artists, performers, singers, and dancers! They were never
meant to be warriors or mages, and never will be!
Man, what a stupid, annoying, little whiner. He sounded worse than a four year
old kid that just dropped his ice cream cone on his own foot and screamed to mommy and
daddy to clean him off and buy him another one. But as fun as this was, I could see this
going on forever. I seriously didnt want to stick around to find out what other stupid
things this insane asylum was capable of spewing out.
And I hated to say it, but he was kind of right. I had a bad feeling considering
what I must have looked like on the outside but I already knew for a fact I looked
anything but intimidating or even a threat for that matter, which was probably why I
never thought that Starflower wretch would stick a dagger to my neck. That sick, twisted,
little tactic sure surprised me.
I couldn't help but think this flower Conjurer and Summoner mage act was going
to look totally off, but I figured I might as well totally trash the image of all this crap and
just take up being a badass fire-ball launching Lilyara at least until I figured out how to
reverse this. If it made Demetri's already train-wrecked brain have a nuclear meltdown,
so much the better.
Still, I didnt trust Demetri with anything and I certainly didnt want to end up
stuck here as one of his most prized dancers. Flowers and dancing were two things I
seriously didnt care for, and even though I got absolutely slammed with the first of those
two, at least I could avoid doing the later for my sanitys sake.
Well, to make matters even worse, Demetri, I told him, trying to dissuade him
again. Im terrible when it comes to drawing, singing, and dancing. Im seriously not
worth wasting your time on, and youd be a real idiot to even try. So let me go, and we'll
forget this garbage ever happened. You can't seriously think I'd look good at dancing with
no skill in it and with gothic magic guild tattoos on my sides, right? What is everyone
else in this town going to think when they see me with these? Is that the kind of thing you
want in these dances?
I thought for sure the danger of total public humiliation and controversy would
convince him to give this stupidity up. But he didn't care, somehow able to just get over
his initial stroke of horror. The very prospect of me dancing, Nightwind and Apex

Decagram tattoos or not, made Demetri go giddy again. Yeah, maybe he really lost it now
and not even a reboot on his brain was working. He grabbed his wand and held it tightly
like a fanatic, acting like it was his own personal fascist dictator command stick. I
seriously needed to get away from this psychopath as soon as possible, and hopefully he
would lose his interest in me if I didnt measure up to his ridiculous expectations.
Oh, we can still work around that, Demetri smiled, feeling annoyingly better
already. They're simply a mere blemish on something so prestigious, especially after
drinking all that Sun Water. But it isnt your artistic ability or how well you can sing
that intrigues me, although I like the sound of that voice. Oh, its how you will look when
you dance. There are a very, very rare few Lilyara that look anywhere near as gorgeous
and strikingly handsome as you do. You may look good now, but when all of Floranta
bears witness to you dancing elegantly in the courtyards in the ensembles of the
Lilyara oh, they will adore you. Those tattoos... oh, they're nothing compared to the
rest. They'll look past it, I'm sure.
Give me a freaking break, how was I supposed to read this guy with his mind
flipping out every two seconds? Please, now this was getting more alarmingly ludicrous
by the second. But, I decided to keep going with a tactic I was hoping would get this
mutated rabbit off of my back. If I could just get him to willingly give up on me, I could
be out of here in a hitch, and finally bail before things get even worse.
But Demetri I told him, trying to act like that was too much. You know
Ive only just become a Lilyara. I was never a serious dancer before in my whole freaking
life, how do you expect me to do this already? I couldnt do it then, and theres no
freaking way this is going to change anything. Wed both be idiots to even try it, so rather
than both of us wasting our time and embarrassing the heck out of ourselves in front of
everyone, lets just forget about this and go our own separate ways.
Biggest freaking mistake I could have made right there. I tried everything I could
think of and I really thought Demetri was going to give it up like any other sane person
would and think I was hopeless at becoming any kind of dancer that he wanted me to.
Nope. He was psychotically determined on putting me through this just because I
happened to guzzle down more of that Sun Water junk than anyone else. I swore, it's like
the sight of the Nightwind and Apex Decagram tattoos made him go over the edge into
total madness with this insane escalation of commitment thing he had going on. If the
sight of these tattoos wasn't stopping him, I could bet even Nuclear Armageddon wouldn't
at this point either. We could both be radiation-slathered leper mutants in the ruins of a
post-apocalyptic wasteland and he'd still want me to dance.
So I see Demetri stated in a contemplative tone at first, looking at me with
curiosity and thought. But, as you probably didnt know already, the average lifespan of
a Lilyara is eight hundred years. You in fact have centuries worth of time to become a
master at dancing. Come, I will help you get started. I can just see you becoming the
greatest dancer that Floranta has ever seen!
Eight. Hundred. Years. PLUS whatever becoming a mage tacked on. How I
managed not to kill myself in a graphic display of fiery, reckless violence after hearing
that was quite a feat of endurance and tolerance. And as shocking as it might sound, I
didnt even care I would be stuck like this for that long, I just wanted to bail the heck out
of there more than anything else at the moment and figured sanity salvaging could wait
until later.

But instead, he called in reinforcements, his own personal SWAT team to begin a
mental tactical assault on my mind and cause as much collateral damage as possible. I
had been waiting and watching the entire bloody time for him to put that blasted wand
down so I could barbecue him like there was no tomorrow but he never even came close.
He called in two more Lilyaras from outside the courtyard through a back door I
didn't see earlier because his bunny body had been blocking it. As I saw these two
Lilyaras walking in, I knew they were obvious veterans at this dancing obsession that he
insisted on. Yet weirdly enough, I saw the colors on their flower petal skirts and the
flowers that were on their backs and on their heads were red, orange, and yellow, just like
that Starflower psychopath I had the displeasure of running into earlier. I didnt get the
point of the color difference between mine and theirs, if there really was a point to it to
begin with.
Still, there was one thing that really bothered me. They seemed way too happy.
Not just like overly happy, like to the point of being giddy over something stupid, but it
was to the level of being pretty much a psychotic stupor of ecstasy-powered glee, like
they were drugged or something. That was all the warning I needed to know what would
happen to my sanity if I stayed here too long
Hi there! The first one said to me in a musical, cheery voice with a smile,
looking into my eyes and getting way too close for comfort. My name is Springpetal and
this is Cherry Blossom. Ive been a dancer at Floranta City for over a hundred and fifty
years.
And Ive been here for two hundred and twenty five years, The other said to me
with a similar careless smile.
Great, and where I came from, youre both already dead. Seriously though, eight
hundred plus years of this crap? I swore, there was no freaking way I was going to still be
here by nightfall, I didnt care about who I had to strangle and go full-on Hannibal Lector
to see to that. I was trying my best to avoid sinking into any more misery and it was
having the most ridiculous opposite effect I've ever had to put up with.
Still, I had to try and make this as quick as possible and escaping was nowhere in
sight. The door they used was blocked and the way I came in was too far away. And
Demetri still had his stupid wand. With all sanity-preserving options dead in the mud
right now, as horrifically stupid and utterly moronic it sounded, trying to do these stupid
dances the best I could might actually bail me out of here faster. If I was screwing up on
purpose, forget it, theyd keep me suffering here like I was in a prison specially designed
with cruel and unusual punishment in mind way past the waking hours of the morning,
and I knew Demetri's madness streak wasn't in the kind of mode to give up on anything.
So as painful on the mind as it was, I tried playing the part. It was totally
impossible to get Demetris guard down otherwise and everything else I had been trying
was epically failing. Besides, they had to stop at some point.
Well, to tell the truth I told them both, knowing I was going to have to go
through this agony anyway with Demetri closely stalking, my names Ken, and I only
just became a Lilyara. And I dont know a single freaking thing about dancing beyond
looking like an idiot. I mean I told Demetri here not to bother, but
Ken? This so called Springpetal interrupted me, looking at me like that was
something terribly weird. Oh, I see you havent been given a Lilyara name yet! Its
custom that we do so!

Oh god, we had to go there now, didn't we? Please, for the love of all that is holy,
I wanted to just get to the blasted dancing and get this hideous pain over with pity's sake.
I swear I was going to be screaming in cheer when I had the stupid gem and was finally
running out of here and didn't have to be sidetracked over and over again.
They both looked me over and after nearly a minute of pointless thinking and
whispering to each other did they finally come up with a blasted name. The entire time, I
had been thinking as well, only unlike these two, the cataclysmic manslaughter that I
imagined would have gotten me locked up for a heck of a long time if I actually did it.
Well call you Skylily, Springpetal smiled at me. I think its a pretty name.
What do you think?
Its nice, I lied with a slightly faked smile, knowing I was shaving off
precious seconds of sanity if I just flat out agreed with everything and didnt prolong the
agony by creating needless complications. Skylily it is then.
I thought of it because your lily flowers have such a beautiful shade of blue, just
like a serine afternoon sky, She smiled, looking at my eyes again. But to tell the truth,
thats because youre a male Lilyara. Males have turquoise, blue and purple as their lily
petal colors while we females have red, orange and yellow. But, we dance together so we
get all the colors of the rainbow! Everyone loves it!
Really, was it that bloody hard to tell from my expressions that I really didn't give
a single, steaming cow crap about this? It seemed like the more I tried putting up with
this asinine trash, the more I felt like it wasn't actually working and going homicidal may
just be the only reasonable and ethical option after this level of collateral damage. Still, I
just tried to shut up and go along with it. Hopefully I could minimize the pointless chatter
but even that alone seemed freaking impossible.
And finally, after all that pointless garbage and being christened with stupid name
like Skylily, we finally got to the dancing part, as if we were actually making real
progress here. I just did exactly as they said, and tried my best, not only to get this over
with sooner, but to get them to believe I was actually ready to spend the rest of my
meaningless existence dancing my butt off in this psychotic, flower-infested cesspool.
The more they thought that, the less likely they would come looking for me thinking I ran
off.
I couldnt believe the brainless names of some of these stupid dances and the
horribly, overly-cutesy poetry they used for song lyrics. Springtime Circle, Morning Dew,
and Spin Petal were just three of them. And they were even worse than what I thought
they would be like. It was the mental version of having every tooth in your mouth drilled
to death without Novocain while having flaming cactuses forcefully rammed into your
ears. Every stupid step, turn, jump, slide, and spin might as well have been one 45mm
round after another in the already mutilated corpse that used to be my sanity.
Regardless, I danced and sang the stupid things as best as I could, trying to act
like I was having fun and really enjoying it like they would have loved to see me. The
disturbing thing was it was rapidly coming naturally to me. Somehow expert dancing
suddenly felt ultra-easy and to me, that was a serious, full DEFCON 1 alarm going off.
Demetri was smiling at it in ways he hadnt before, but at least he was falling for
it. Meanwhile, Springpetal and Cherry Blossom were showering me with such annoying
and totally bombastic praises. Oh, I could imagine it must have looked very, very cute but
I felt very, very stupid doing all of it, and I could swear I heard my already tortured soul

just begging for it to stop while my sanity was going to go on a union strike and my brain
figured far too much of this was probably against the Geneva Convention to tolerate.
Painful, sanity-consuming hours had passed and evening finally arrived. It had
gone on way much longer than I anticipated. I learned at least twenty different dances
with their own special style of stupidity that painful day. My pride and sanity took the
biggest beat-down of all time and was left as a tortured, mangled heap of its former self
wrapped in lily flowers. It was kind of like a violent and bloody car wreck with a colorful
Christmas gift wrapping with cute penguins and snowmen all over it. Still, I knew they
had a thousand more dances ready to go on their campaign to murder my mind.
We were done for the day, finally. And I tried to act oh so very happy after all that
misery, even though I was thinking more about all the possible firearms and weapons of
mass destruction I wished I had to remedy this situation. I even went further with it and
gave them each a hug to get them thinking I was totally in their hands now.
Yes, Demetri told me, looking at me with a smile, Yes, you will become our
master dancer.
In your dreams, schmuck. But I didnt let my wild, happy, cheerful and totally
fake smile make him think that.
Thank you, Demetri, I told him, trying to still look very happy. I think I was
destined to come here.
Man, it felt painful to say that but he took it in nicely. I didnt just have them
hook, line, and sinker, I freaking tied that whole blasted bass fish up with the entire rods
worth of fishing line and stuffed that thing into a titanium lockbox. And just when I
thought I had it...
"Come!" Springpetal urged me, trying to take me along. "You just got here, didn't
you, Skylily? Don't you need a place to stay?"
Need a place to stay. That sounded more like a lifetime prison sentence from a
diabolic, blood-drunk judge than an innocent invitation for room and board. I couldn't
believe it, I thought they were just about to leave me alone now, and then this jacking
jack crap had to happen. At this point, I was ready to expect them to just shove me in a
barracks and keep watch on me all night long like a maximum security prison. Man, I
really, really had to fight to hold in my real feelings, but I had to go along with this one
too.
"Yeah... I do," I told her, wondering how I was going to get out of this one now.
"Where do you two spend the night?"
In case I needed to call in an airstrike.
"Oh, I'll show you!" She smiled, waving me to follow her. "It's really nice and
pretty, the perfect home for a Lilyara!"
I rolled my eyes but figured I'd just follow them, since at this point I was probably
too broken to really think about fighting my way out of here. Boy, this sure sucked, now I
was going to have to figure a way out of this prison they were talking me to and this
stinking town.
We headed down the streets, which were emptying out now. Great timing, sure
could have used this minimal level of public scrutiny when I was sneaking around, but
no. Heck no. Why would I ever have that kind of luck?
So I just followed these two nutcases and thankfully, Demetri left and headed
elsewhere, probably back into his spawning pit where he tortured kittens and puppies

with hacksaws and corrosive chemicals. I lost sight of him, but whatever, escaping from
these two fruitcakes would be much easier than trying to get away from Psycho Bunny
and the Thunder Stick of Sanity's End. I figured wits weren't a strongpoint of these two
bouquets, so maybe this might work. Maybe.
After heading down a few blocks, we came across a two story building that
looked like it was part of a small campus of six buildings. Again, more pastel colors. All
of them surrounded a courtyard where there was a large marble mount of stone statues
of... you guessed it! Dancing Lilyara. Holy crap, was that what I looked like while
dancing? Forget it, this place had well beyond scarred and traumatized me for my now
eight-hundred year abysmal life.
"See?" Cherry Blossom asked me happily, acting really excited about showing me
this detention block. "It's your new home!"
Yeah, maybe for the next fifteen minutes, tops.
"Wow, I..." I remarked, speechless... for all the reasons they weren't thinking
about.
"Oh, we'll give you the tour in the morning!" Springpetal told me with a smile,
acting like that was really something to look forward to. "But for now, it's best that you
get some rest."
"Right," I nodded. "Tomorrow then."
So, they took me inside one of these buildings. Meanwhile, I sized the place up,
trying to get a good idea of what it would take to sneak out of here. Or how much C4
plastic explosive it would take to blow the whole place apart.
Problem was, there were only the windows and the front door. As soon as we
stepped inside, I realized the front door was a bad option. At least another two Lilyara, a
male and a female sitting beside each other on a wooden bench and another freaking
Kanikin with brown fur were there, probably security or something. Whatever they were
doing, it looked like they were sticking around for quite some time.
Meanwhile, the inside the building didn't take a break from the pastel colors
either, slathering the stone and wood walls with a baby blue color with more painted
flowers here and there, because obviously no one thought it might be overkill.
"Ah, greetings Springpetal, Cherry Blossom and... hmm, I don't think I've seen
him before," The brown-furred Kanikin spoke to them before taking a glance at me. "Is
he new or is he a transfer?"
"Oh, good evening, Farrel!" Cherry Blossom was too proud to announce. "This is
Skylily! He's new and needs a place to stay. Demetri wants him to be a dancer."
"Demetri, hmm?" Farrel the Kanikin asked, making it sound like it was some
stupid kind of honor to have to go through him to become this. "I think we have a spare
room on the second floor. Room three should be open."
Oh please, if I had the room to myself, it would make it so much easier to break
out of here and not have to knock a roommate out. Still, I just kept looking around, trying
to map this house out and all possible escape methods. I could bet the rest of them were
just thinking I was exploring my surroundings.
"Okay, sounds great!" Springpetal chimed in. "Thank you, Farrel! Pleasant
dreams!"
So, we went these creaky, wooden stairs and I got a good look at the hallways. It
was pretty quiet up here, thankfully. It seemed anyone else confided to this cesspool had

gone to sleep save for the others downstairs. Problem was the wooden floor creaked, and
that would be a giveaway if I tried to sneak out during the night. We headed over to the
room marked with a three and Cherry Blossom grabbed the brass knob shaped as a
flower and opened the pastel blue door.
I walked inside and saw it was really nothing special. Obviously didn't need a
dresser for clothes, and there was a bed and a small wooden desk for writing. Meanwhile,
the chair to go with it was actually just a simple wooden stool. Figured any chair with a
backing to it must have been a heck of a lot of fun with this big fat flower on the back of
every Lilyara. Then I saw this room had two ordinary glass windows, which might be a
possible escape route. And then there was the bed. Again, nothing special, just a run of
the mill wooden bed with some bag stuffed with feathers as a mattress and a smaller one
as a pillow. It reminded me all too much of a prison cot. So this was to be my room for
the next eight hundred years? Wow, Demetri, you really knew how to outdo yourself.
"Well, here it is!" Cherry Blossom told me, showing me inside. "Best to get some
sleep, you've got a big day tomorrow!"
Oh man, the irony of those words. I simply nodded and took a look around. Like
heck I was asking about what the plans for tomorrow were. Probably something along the
lines of dragging me all over Inane Dance Campus and then getting stuffed in front of
Demetri to dance some more of that Rotflower Hop crap I had spent way too much of the
afternoon doing. Was this really what they were expecting every day to be like now?
"Well, good night, you two," I told both of them to make them totally unaware I
was up to something. "Thanks for the escort."
"Oh, our pleasure!" Springpetal smiled. "Sleep well and pleasant dreams!"
And shortly after, they closed the door and finally I was alone. Man, around here,
it felt like privacy was something you needed to blackmail people for. Now I just needed
to find a wall to smash my head against and hope for sweet, luscious amnesia.
After going through all that, I wanted to make sure I did this escape right and
extremely carefully, because I felt it deep in my soul that if I screwed this up, the
consequences would be pure brutality.
Taking another look around, I saw the whole room was illuminated by what
looked like a glowing, yellow sphere suspended by a brass chain to the ceiling. I figured I
was probably so used to electric lights that I figured this thing was one when really it
seemed to be some kind of magical, light-producing orb. I hadn't even noticed these
things before, and I figured that's how they kept things lit up in the dark. I took a closer
look at it, and I realized to turn it off and on, you only needed to touch it, and it didn't
sizzle the crap out of your finger like a bulb that had been lit for too long. I figured
something like this had to be kept simple so any idiot could operate it, which for this
place was an absolute necessity.
I looked at the glass pane windows, and I figured this was probably going to be
my only real route of escape since the wooden floor in the hallway felt like it was made
to make a racket. The window slid open about a foot, which gave me an opening that
laughed in my face and knew I'd get my butt stuck in there if I tried to slide out. Heck, I
couldn't even slide out of that as a human, never mind a walking flower bouquet with a
titan-sized flower on my back.
Trying to figure out a way to maybe just pull the whole freaking window off was
probably one of the only real options here. But then something came to mind. I couldn't

rush this and I figured if I just waited this out maybe an hour or two, the rest of this
nuthouse town would go to sleep and no one would notice me running out of here in the
dark. Not to mention it wasn't totally night yet. I figured with Demetri the dimwit and his
two posies out of my face, the wait wouldn't be as much of a nightmare as it was during
the last few hours.
I decided about a two hour wait would be enough to get everyone's butt into bed
and lower the possibility of them getting in my face. In the meantime, I poked around
through the desk. A bunch of blank pages, some kind of chubby colored pencils, another
pile of stationary, and some black matchbox thing I had no idea what the heck it was used
for. Then, a weird, colored glass plate, a few glass cups with flowers in them, and a bunch
of other useless stuff, half of which I figured out the purpose for while the other half was
junk I had no clue what it was for or why I was even in there. Well, figured I had enough
here to draw something to kill time.
I figured I'd draw Phoenix. I missed the place, especially in this cesspool, so I got
to drawing the cityscape and the office buildings and all that stuff. It kind of looked like
an average modern day city, but hey, that was fine with me, at least it would convince me
I hadn't totally forgotten about it while I've been jammed in this mental asylum. I kept at
it for a while, and I honestly surprised myself at how good I made it with even just a few
freaking pencils. I hadn't practiced this in a while, but I figured maybe by now I had just
gotten better at visualizing stuff. The buildings were spot on even without a reference
picture, and I gave it a really nice desert sunset look to it. I mean heck, last time I even
tried drawing in art class, I could barely get even so much as a half-decent sketch of a
tree out, and here I made something that was probably as close to theAnd then I just flung the chubby red pencil I was holding when I suddenly
realized it. "You must realize this isnt your destiny! The Lilyara are supposed to be
artists, performers, singers and dancers!" Man, I could hear Bunnybreath's annoying
voice all over again in my head like a bad pop song that doesn't know when to quit. Just
like with the new singing voice and the dancing, the whole "artists" bit was something I
thought I was beyond when hey, guess what, Skylily, you can do actually do that now
because... yeah, you're one of them.
After realizing that, holy crap, I didn't even feel picking that pencil back up. I
didn't get how becoming a different race actually made you really good at a particular
skill, but just like how Jeff got claws and firebreathing, I got the whole blasted singing,
dancing, and artistry Lilyara toolkit dumped on my lap.
Whatever, I wasn't going to waste all night thinking about it. I turned around and
looked back outside and figured I had killed enough time. Now, I just needed to figure
out how to rip this window off without making too much noise and alerting this whole
disguised correctional facility.
I mentally went through all the conjuration spells I had, but that would involve
blowing up the window with a fireball or zapping it with a lightning bolt, and the whole
freaking town would definitely hear that. Might as well just kick the thing out, that would
probably make even less noise.
I went with going with the gentle and very much unlike myself approach of
slowly and carefully dismantling the window. Looking at how they installed this thing, I
realized it was a pretty simple construction and all it took was a little force and pressure
in the right, angled direction and the window began to slide off of the wooden track. I

almost had it completely off, but then it had to get stuck right at the end, right when there
was maybe only an inch of window pane left. Gentle pushes and shoves were suddenly
useless, so I quickly added more force and then the worst thing that could have happened
just happened.
Suddenly the sliding window came off when I didn't expect it, slipped out of my
hands, and it tumbled outside where it smashed on the ground below. I freaking winced at
the shattering sound, but I looked around quickly and saw there wasn't any commotion.
At least not yet. Looking out the window, I saw the outside streets were empty and not a
soul saw anything.
I decided I'd be an idiot to not chance it, I was already well past the point of no
return here and there was no way I could stomach another day of this crap. If Demetri
saw I was smashing windows, he would know I was up to something. I quickly grabbed
the window sill with my hands, hopped out, turned around, lowered my body down, put
my feet up against the outside wall of the house, and jumped off to the right side,
avoiding the mess of broken glass and wood below. Yeah, last thing I wanted was to leave
a really convenient trail of blood for them to follow and add a heap of stinging physical
pain to accompany the seemingly unending wrath of mental pain I had gone through all
day long.
I wasn't going to hang around to find out if anyone woke up and heard the
window break or not. I rushed out of there and knew it was time to reap the benefits of
my endurance and patience, which had barely been able to put up a last stand that day.
Navigating my way through the now empty city in the dark was a whole new experience.
It was hard to see, but then again, I didn't have to worry about bumping into more
annoying Lilyara, Kanikin, or those bird-brain Lintuan people. Everyone was back in
their beds, cages, or the nuclear waste disposal sites they used to sleep in.
I tried my best to keep a low profile by avoiding open areas and using them only
when necessary even though no one seemed to be around. The town still seemed pretty
quiet and not too many people living around here were out at this hour. After about
fifteen minutes of working my way around the city, I finally found my way over the river
by crossing the pastel-colored stone bridge in the center of town. Then, after just heading
straight as much as I could around the plethora of pastel-colored buildings and flowerthemed fountains, I made it through the smaller city outskirts and then eventually toward
the blossoming forest. It was beyond sick to think this was all I really wanted, and I had
to go through this much of an agonizing nightmare over something so simple and stupid.
All because I didn't want to chance swimming in a river.
I didnt even want to so much as look back. I knew when I had to cross that river
on the return trip, I was definitely going to swim through the water and not care how wet
I got. I couldnt help but think about how much horror I could have avoided if I just went
for a swim without going into this psychotic town, but it was too freaking late for that.
That blooming forest was the weirdest place. Everything was freaking glowing
pink and white in the middle of the night. As painful and humiliating as this racial change
into a Lilyara had been, in a way, at least it was over with so I didnt have to be a
paranoid little twit about what I touched, ate, and when I inhaled. I could actually move
around and not have to hold my breath while walking through this stuff thinking it was
going to change me into something demented every fifteen seconds... seeing as how I was
already something demented. I could have thought of at least a dozen other races I saw

back in Lashira City I would have liked to be instead of a Lilyara, only instead of having
the balls of just picking one and settling with it, I tossed the dice and luck waterboarded
my face down a toilet stuffed with feces and laughed maniacally about it.
I made it pretty deep into that flower-smothered forest, deep enough to the point
where I was pretty sure Demetri and friends would never find me if they went out
searching. Sure, they'd find the broken window in the morning, but they'd probably just
stand around stupidly and not know a bloody thing about how to track someone.
Meanwhile, I was incredibly tried. Jumping around and dancing all bloody day didnt
exactly keep me energized for the night and I was already up late, probably around 3am
by now. I just quickly found a soft spot among the glowing flora to rest, and lied down,
once again getting reminded of the fat lily flower on my back that forced me to sleep on
my stomach. Man, what a nightmare of a day
As I tried to get to sleep by lying on my stomach, I couldnt help but think about
Jeff, Mark, and Sarah. I couldnt even imagine what they were going through, but I was
hoping it wasnt nearly as bad as my scream-fest of insanity here for their own sake and
mental state. After that, I just shut my eyes and dozed off. I really didnt want to think
about it all night long. And thankfully, I didn't have an ungodly nightmare about it,
although the muse of my nightmares had no right to complain she didn't have enough
material to work with.
First thing I noticed in the morning was sheer annoyance from something poking
or pecking my face. Like a sudden jab, I quickly opened my eyes, turned around, and saw
a painful and familiar sight. The other end of Demetris Wand of Zanix. That was the last
thing on the planet I wanted to see. I couldnt freaking believe it, how the devil did he
managed to track me down here? I looked up and there the little furry maggot was, just
flashing a sinister furry bunny smile and sticking his stupid wand in my face. Thankfully,
he was alone. Guess he figured he didn't even need anyone else to drag my butt back to
that flora cesspool of a city.
You know Demetri smiled with sadism in his eyes, its going to take me a
long time to figure out a suitable punishment for you.
I was ready to kill him. Zap him, burn him to a cinder, or freeze him up like an ice
pop and smash him into chunks. I tried to look frustrated and sad that he found me. And
then, just as he was smiling, fattening his ego and getting overconfident about it, I
quickly reacted with the speed of a USMC Marine, and furiously snatched that freaking
wand right out of his furry bunny paw. In his shock, I quickly got to my feet, smacked the
fur ball right in his bunny nose with a hard jab punch to the face and then backed away
and I kept my distance from him in case he decided to retaliate. Quickly I got back on my
feet, still holding his stupid wand tightly in my hand. Oh he certainly wasnt happy
anymore after that painful punch to his furry face, but there wasnt a single thing he could
do about it without his wand. Boy, did that piss him off, and it felt good.
You miserable, little cretin, Demetri growled at me, rubbing his nose to ease the
pain. I tried to give you a life of pleasure and you rejected it. You must be insane to
want to throw all of that away.
Me, insane. Really. I then used my concentration and began to build up flames in
my hands. I then poured the heat and fire into the Wand of Zanix, made it get very hot,
and then I threw it up into the air. Once it came spiraling back down, Demetri tried
hopelessly to try and catch it even though it would sizzle his hands off even if he did.

Knowing how hopeless and clumsy that stupid jackrabbit was, he totally missed it and it
hit the ground and exploded with a very loud and satisfying shattering sound, leaving
Demetri with nothing to kill me with.
He just looked at the shattered and smoldering bits and pieces of it, and then
looked back at me with a berserker rage, as if he was really thinking of using his fists or
maybe even his buck-teeth. Oh, I would have loved for him to try something violent now
when I had way more experience with that than he could ever hope to have. He was about
to come at me swinging, but I already had a small globe of fire hovering above my hand,
which could easily become a bunny-roasting fireball in a split second's worth of time and
casting.
How dare you! He shouted at me in furious anger. You have no idea how long
it took me to get that!
Its freaking over, I spat back at him, looking at Demetri in the eyes. Ive had
enough of this crap. Do whatever the heck you want to the Lilyara you have in your
rotting town, but Im not going to have a blasted thing to do with it. What did you say
before, Lilyaras aren't supposed to be warriors and wizards? Big, fat mistake you made
with me, then.
You will be making a death wish if you keep walking through this forest,
Demetri warned me. Beyond these woods lies the kingdom of Calasal, and they hate
everything about Floranta and its citizens. We keep our distance from each other to avoid
bloodshed and violence, but if they find you alone, they wont hesitate to end your life.
I honestly wasnt scared, even if he was telling the truth. Those creeps would have
no idea of who I really was. And if they hated the crap out of this town, thats one big
thing I had in common with them. I could definitely see why they had it with this place
and these people. I spent one freaking day in that apocalyptic carnival of springtime
psychosis and I already felt sorry I didnt have the atomic bomb necessary to nuke the
stuffing out of it.
Why even tell me this if you were just seconds away of killing me yourself? I
asked, wondering why he was even doing that. "This whole time you got in my face like
it was all supposed to be obey or die."
Im just telling you the truth, Skylily, He told me, looking a little down. Its
not too late to turn back. You could be loved and be happy in Floranta
I then realized he never would have actually killed me with that wand. At least not
after the transformation anyway. The whole thing was a bluff to just get me to be his best
dancer. He never would have used it because I sure couldn't do much dancing for him if I
was a smoking crater of death and burnt flower petals.
I told you already, its over, I repeated to him, knowing it obviously didnt sink
into his head the first time. Stop following me and just forget I even existed. I can
handle myself.
"This isn't over, Skylily," He told me with that stupid name once again. "You
haven't see the last of me. One of these days you will have to embrace destiny."
And then I kept walking, leaving that psychotic furball behind me. He stood there
for a moment, pouting like a six year old kid that didn't get a GameSprint console with
that mature-rated Dead Hour zombie-killing game that every parent thought was too
violent. Shortly after, he stormed his back to Floranta in a pissed-off fit of rage. At least
some relief came to me at that moment.

Seemed like he definitely didn't want to follow me to this Calasal joint he was
honking on about earlier. Now I was truly out of the clear, and man was I happy that mess
was totally over with. And I could finally relax knowing there was no way Demetri was
going to chase after a combat-ready mage with nothing to even fight with. As for the rest
of the pain I had to go through there nothing could undo the traumatic mental damage
that place did, but at least it was over.
I didnt look back and kept moving through the forest. I knew I still needed to
find that Springside Guardian, get that stupid gem, and make sure this whole trip through
SenileLand wasn't a total waste of time, energy, and sanity. I was alone again, still not
exactly used to having flowers cover 85% of my body but the misery of it was slowly
fading away knowing I was pretty much painfully stuck with it until we could dispel it.
Maybe once this whole stupid charade was over, something in the Amethyst Chamber
had a way to undo it. I wasn't giving up on that yet. Ravi back in Jadehill could eat his
heart out.
I went through hours of more and more flowery foliage until I came to the end,
and the flower-stuffed plains of Springside appeared again. And there it was, Calasal to
the distance, or at least one of its major cities. The whole capital city and its massive
castle stood on a hill overlooking the flower-smothered valley around it, and all I could
see at the moment were the massive, white stone walls surrounding the city, save for a
few defense towers. I guess now I could see why the Silver Vanguard League and the
Infernal Legion would have a little trouble here. At least this place looked like a total pain
to lay a siege on, especially after having to go through that forest and deal with whether
Floranta had as a defensive measure to kill brains and summon ungodly horror in the
form of flowers and stupid, inane bunnies.
As much as I hated that fuzz ball, Demetri, I decided to take his advice and not go
poking around Calasal. There was nothing in there I needed, I came all this way for the
flower gem to unlock the Amethyst Chamber, find a way home, and nothing else.
Floranta sure did a bang-up job at telling me to avoid all traces of civilization around
here, so if even they didn't like this place, I wasn't about to see how much worse things
could get. I was just hoping the flower gem wasn't in there. Something about it just made
it seem unlikely these would be the scumbags carrying it. Figured I wouldn't try to bust in
there until I really had a strong lead.
I tried to sidestep around the city, dodging the paved roads by quite a bit of
distance, trying to be at least far away to the point where it would be nearly impossible to
notice me. As a human, I might have had an easier time keeping under cover. Lilyara,
forget it, I might as well have been wearing a neon sign that said Hey, Im over here!
Kill me! with all these massive, brightly colored flowers as anti-camouflage. As I was
making good distance, I knew these wimpy, small flowers below me wouldnt have done
a blasted thing to help cover me up. Not unless I crawled the whole way for miles, which
seriously wasn't worth it. They still would have seen this big, fat lily flower covering my
back that was at least a thousand times the size of these little ones around me. Still, I
didnt have that much more to go as I crept around the right side of the city. All I could
hope for was that no one was watching.
So, for your last request, you wish to serve as an entertainer for the Immortal
Enclave? I heard a mocking voice behind me.

I spun around and I couldnt believe it. Two highly armored soldiers in fancypants turquoise-colored plate armor with really large and nasty-looking jagged spears in
their hands. I couldnt even see their faces behind those wicked-looking helmets. Heck, I
didn't even know what kind of race of creatures these guys were, but they did seem a bit
taller than humans. Besides that clue, everything was just armor everywhere.
And right behind them, another armored soldier mounted upon a really nasty and
vicious griffon with a white-feathered head and a brown-feathered body, nasty glaring
eyes, razor sharp talons and beak, while the other half of the vicious-looking beast was
that of a ferocious lion. Really swell. And to make things better, even the griffon was also
covered with an excessive amount of turquoise plate armor. Three cheers for overkill.
What were these guys preparing to fight, a freaking battleship?
Come on, I thought for sure there was no one even near me. I had been looking
around constantly to make sure no one was even close, so unless these guys were using
some invisibility trick or were expert ninjas, I should have seen these clunky metal
clowns coming from miles away. I would have definitely seen that griffon rider and his
oversized birdie without a problem at all, so how the devil did he manage to sneak up
behind me?
Just great, what do you jackasses want? I asked him with my sarcastically
musical voice, even though I already knew these guys were out to kill me.
To see you dance, The griffon rider laughed mockingly. It has always been
Calasalian custom to force a trespassing Lilyara into dancing until exhaustion. Then we
kill them. So I sure hope you can dance for a long time.
Well, arent you a compassionate little maggot comedian. And I loved this place
and its stupid customs. Lilyara custom to give you a stupid name. Calasalian custom to
feel entitled to be a heartless, little fascist punk. Well, how about I show you a good old
American custom of dunking your head into a deep fryer and shoving that spear where
your rectum won't be expecting company? I swear, all I needed was to borrow a Boeing
AH-64 Apache attack helicopter for five minutes and these suckers would be sorry.
Meanwhile, I kept my wrists over the Nightwind Summoners Sigil and the Apex
Decagon tattoos, using the flowers on my wrists to hide them even more, finally finding a
decent use for the blasted things. If Demetri didnt expect wizardry from a Lilyara, these
toilet jockeys wouldnt see it coming either. Thankfully, I had the unsuspecting edge of
being one of the last races in Marsaras that would ever be suspected of being both a Apex
Decagon Conjurer and a Nightwind Summoner, or even remotely violent for that matter.
Still though, that alone wasnt going to take me out of the hole yet.
Fine, I can do this all day, if youd like, I told them, not feeling intimidated by
their taunts. Youll get bored of watching before I get tired of dancing. Say, if you get
bored before I quit, I guess that means I live, right?
"Ha, this one thinks he's got wit, doesn't he?" the chump griffon rider laughed.
If they seriously wanted to actually watch these idiotic dances, I suspected they
were already insanely bored. Maybe I could convince them having a free-for-all amongst
themselves would be a fantastic alternate source of entertainment.
I started dancing Springtime Circle just to buy myself more time, even though I
hated it to the high heavens and secretly hoped the sight of it would just cause their
brains to implode. While I was frustrated to do this whole stupid thing again willingly,

they probably thought the irritation was coming from knowing I was going to die after I
got too tired to continue.
As I was doing those stupid spins and turns and letting the wind and my motions
send the petals of these annoying flowers all over me waving and spinning around like
some psychedelic flower wind-catcher, I tried thinking about how I was going to take
these punks down with lots of gratuitous violence. The griffon rider was the biggest
obvious threat, but he was in the back. I nail him with whatever I summon I call out and
in no time these other two freaks will be all over me like crazed defensive linemen taking
down the wide receiver at the end zone.
I danced some more and they were just laughing at it. So, I decided to think in
reverse. Send the summoned Nightwind Guardian on one of the soldiers, use the shock
value to hit the griffon with some kind of blizzard, forcing him into the ground unable to
fly. As for the last idiot, I was going to have to improvise. But the best part of this was, I
only looked unarmed and helpless without any way to fight back with. They had no clue I
was planning their demise, or was even capable of it to begin with.
I finished off dancing Springtime Circle, and what do you know, these clowns
actually started clapping sarcastically. Still, I tried my best to look anxious and helpless,
making them think I was hopelessly stuck here just prolonging an inevitable death. So, I
tried a new tactic. New dance, totally made up by myself to look like one of the others,
using some gibberish language for singing. That way, they would have no idea when I
was actually doing a summon while dancing.
One minute past into this stupid made up dance of mine, and I decided to go for it.
These guys werent Summoners, so they would still have no idea what I was saying. So, I
decided to rock and roll. Way better to at least die fighting than dance to death.
Las machodaz Nighwindash scarmonas ci gaznardash vinc somnia
My hands were glowing, and those clowns thought it was part of the dance and
this was some special effect. Good, stay stupid. As for who to call out here, I had a nice
idea of who I would have liked to see light up these maggots.
Sectash forodoth Viensander!
These guys must have been real idiots. They really actually thought the burning
sigil that suddenly appeared in the flowered ground was part of the dance even though I
was almost sure they wouldnt have fallen for it. But, their expressions started to change
when Viensander, the cold-blooded saytr, blasted out of the center of the burning sigil in
the ground, threw dirt and uprooted flowers all over the place, and then turned to face
them with a dark grin.
Viensander stood a massive ten feet tall, with his lower half composing of two
goat legs with dark red fur while the upper half was human with red-tinged skin. And you
know anything with goat legs is bad news. Meanwhile, he had long pointed ears, two
long black horns coming out of his head that coiled backward and almost reached
halfway down his back while wild red hair, devious yellow eyes, and a menacing smile of
pointed teeth completed the look of one demon of a badass creature. In his right hand was
a massive burning cutlass that had a jagged edge, and he was just itching to stuff it into
someone and carve them up like a dumb turkey.
Slaughter the foot soldier on the right, I told him, already following through
with preparing a blizzard.

Oh, for sure, Viensander laughed in a deep and ferocious voice. My blade
grows thirsty
Viensander charged right at him and the three of them were just totally baffled
until the griffon rider finally snapped out of his trance of fear and shock.
"That Lilyara is a mage!?" The griffon rider shouted in shock.
Attack him! The other cried out, definitely not expecting an assault like this at
all.
Too late, my hands were already fueled with glowing, cold energy to blast the
griffon rider with a blizzard, hopefully taking care of him. When I managed to gather
enough energy and magical concentration, I launched the blizzard attack forward, letting
loose a massive ice storm right from my hands accompanied by a sudden frosty blast of
biting, icy wind. Both the griffon and the rider were ravaged with a onslaught of sharp
ice crystals coming at him like razor-bladed bullets.
No surprise, the rider was blown right off his mount and the griffon began flying
off wildly without his rider, freezing and in serious pain from the lacerating ice
fragments. Meanwhile, the foot soldier on the right who I made Viensanders target got
his dues with a furiously savage slashing from the saytrs flaming sword. Lets just say
fancy plate armor, flesh, and bones were nowhere strong enough to stop his blazing
cutlass from making a perfect slice through his body. Only a moment later, his top half
fell over his bottom half like a stick being broken after a kick in the middle. I sure wasn't
cleaning up that mess.
Viensander then had disappeared in a flash of white light, having fulfilled my
request, even though I sure would have loved it if he could have chopped up all of these
losers like sushi rolls. That left me alone again, as painfully unfortunate as it was,
knowing another summon would take too long to perform and they would expect it this
time. While the griffon rider was trying to recuperate from the blizzard, the other foot
soldier came charging at me, spear ready in his hands. I had zero time to react, I tried to
hopelessly grab the spear and stop him in a mid-dodge. Not the best tactic, I'll admit. I
managed to reach around the sharp spearhead to grab the metal shaft, but it was not
enough time to push it away.
I winced in serious pain as the spearhead jabbed right into my stomach. I put both
hands on the shaft to push it out and get it out of me, but I couldnt help but look down at
the wound. It was hideous, I was actually bleeding green blood all over the spearhead.
Meanwhile, the foot soldier was just smiling at me, thinking I was finished. The worm
even tried to push the thing in further, but I was able to at least stop him from going any
deeper with it.
After kicking him in the chest to distract him and cause him to stumble a bit, I
pushed the spear back out and tried to shove it out of his grasp while he tried to jab me
with the blasted thing again, this time aiming higher. But, I got an idea, and quickly
focused on building heat and fire into my hands and then begin running it through the
metal shaft. The stupid idiot kept holding on, even though the metal shaft of the spear
was quickly becoming blazing hot. His metal gauntlets were soon glowing red with heat
as well, and he only let go when his hands were burning and bleeding badly. Screaming,
he yanked off his blazing gauntlets and all he could do was look at his charred hands
sizzling before his eyes while screaming his head off.

I took the morons spear, spun it around as he was wailing at his burning hands
and stabbed him in the neck, the one place where he had nearly nothing for armor. Man,
that was a gross thing to do. I was surprised it didnt take his head off at that. He
collapsed lifelessly, but once he was down, I pressed my foot on his plated chest to keep
his body braced to the ground. I quickly took the spear out again, now splattered with
both green and red blood, my blood and his. That left me with the dismounted rider and
one nasty griffon flying around erratically.
The rider was now up and charging with his spear while the griffon was swooping
down to sink his sharp talons right into my back. I hated having to choose who to kill
since they were both very deadly, but I quickly decided on the griffon. With a little
concentration, I used my conjuration magic to set the entire spear on fire, and then I
prepared to throw it at the griffon while he came flying down at an incredibly fast speed.
I tried my best to time it, and when I felt he was close enough, I hurled the spear upward.
I tried to land the thing in a small unprotected area of his bottom but I quickly realized I
wasnt the best at throwing these things. The spear ending up cutting right into his right
wing and ignited it on fire. While he was coming down on me, I knew he wasnt able to
head back up. I have never flown before in my life but I couldnt imagine anything still
being able to fly around with a wing smothered in flames that was quickly spreading to
the rest of his body. And if I was wrong, then this was the first flying creature I knew that
could still fight and kill while getting cooked extra crispy.
I ran like I was getting chased by a horde of rabies-infested pit bulls and threw
myself forward onto the ground to dodge the incoming griffon. He crash-landed and hit
the ground furiously only three feet away from me, smashing his face and forcing him
into a barrel roll of death. I then realized just how close the griffon rider had gotten to me,
but totally unexpectedly, his own stupid flaming griffon rolled right into him, forcing him
under his heavy rolling body and crushing him underneath. After the griffon rolled
another fifteen feet, he just stopped and lay there, letting out one last screech of pain
before falling over dead. All that was left of him was a cookout quickly going horribly
wrong.
I normally would have been cheering that I beat the stuffing out of them, but the
wound I had in my side from the foot soldiers spear sure as heck wasnt pretty and hurt
wildly. I couldnt help but wince when I looked at it. Green blood, all over my side and
on my hands, trickling over some of the flower petals on top of that. I mean, it was just
weird looking at it. Still, out here, I had nothing to clean and wrap it and I was beginning
to think there was a possibility I might bleed out. And I sure wasnt a first aid genius here
either. How does one go about trying to bandage a wounded flower anyway?
I took the third foot soldiers spear, not sure if I would need it again, but I figured
sooner or later this place would yet again vomit up something that would merit being
stabbed with this thing. After all, the one that was used by the first foot soldier was nicely
sliced in half while the other was a bloody mess. I left the bodies behind, moving slowly
to minimize the pain and the bleeding if the green stuff really coming out of me could
even be considered blood. I still wanted to keep away from Calasal to avoid
reinforcements. I may have wiped out a small patrol but I knew taking another hit with
one of those spears was going to kill. And I was deadly thirsty to top it all off
Chapter 7 Garden of Rainbows

Once I was past the tyrannical kingdom of Calasal and its egocentric clown
collaboration, I breathed a sigh of relief. I didnt know what kind of cactus was up that
fascist country's rectum, but the last thing I wanted was to run into more patrols. I had to
do more marching but the bleeding had slowed down considerably and probably wouldn't
be long before it stopped. Still, I needed something to drink badly, and thankfully it
wasnt long before I came across another river and a nearby town that was similar to
Floranta in style but was only half the size and without all the colors. I had seen that most
of the buildings were just totally bleach white but were pretty much the same size and
shape. Regardless, I still tried to avoid the white stone roads. I didn't know who or what
lived there and frankly, I didn't feel like being introduced to yet another Springside
horror.
All I wanted was the water in the river. There was nothing I was interested in that
town and I was pretty sure the flower gem wasn't there either. Definitely wouldn't be
protected enough, I felt. I put the Calasalian spear down, and crouched by the river to cup
the water in my hands. As much as I wanted a drink, that could come later, the first thing
I needed to do was clean that wound out and maybe find something to wrap and dress it
with. I wasnt a master at first aid but I knew it would be stupid to let it keep bleeding and
possibly get infected.
And I was just about to do it until I noticed something freaky. The wound was
already well on its way toward perfectly healing. No way, a wound like that as a human
would have taken over a month to recover that much. But, for curiositys sake, I didnt
touch the wound or put water on it, I just wanted to watch it for a moment and see if I
was really right about it.
I watched it slowly heal before my eyes like magic. I couldnt freaking believe
it, I totally thought what I got was a severely fatal wound only a half hour ago and now it
looked like most of it was never there. Two minutes later, totally gone, not even a scar or
any sign it actually happened. Still, maybe there had to be some way to explain it. I just
decided to cup some crystal clear water in my hands and tried to drink it.
And then it hit me. The water tasted beyond good, not as ridiculous as the Sun
Water was, but it was incredibly refreshing. But after thinking about it for a few seconds,
I just stopped and looked at myself and sighed in dumbstruck disbelief. As much as I
wanted to think otherwise, I didnt just look like a flower, I really was one even on the
inside. The regeneration and desperate need for water just stacked on top of everything
else. It was beyond nuts. I could probably even tear my own arm out and in maybe an
hour, it would be back. I knew heavy combat of continuous stabbing and slashing would
end up killing me the same way if you did that to any flower in some pissed-off person's
garden, but if I managed to survive and walk away, it would look like nothing happened
by the end of the day. I was never going to get used to this.
When I put that aside, I tried getting some more water, because flower or not, I
was freaking thirsty and the needle on the care meter was below nothing at this point. In
the meantime, trying to drink with only cupping my hands felt like it was taking forever.
What I wouldnt do for something so simple as even a plastic party cup at that moment
Oh! I heard a horrifically shrilly voice shout out near me. Splendid, oh, simply
fabulous!

Great, now what? I turned around to see who felt that it was so critically
important that they shout out like a total moron for no particular reason. I looked over my
shoulder and brushed aside the giant flower petals of that insanely massive lily flower on
my back to see who the heck was screaming their lungs out.
At first I thought it was a three-foot tall black roach standing upright that merited
instant fireball nuking until I realized it was actually supposed to be some kind of
ladybug person or... humanoid creature. There was a hard red shell on her back with
black spots and two antennae on her round head. And she had an overly-cheery face that
grated my nerves a bit. Yet another reason why not to trust humanoids based on insects.
My, my! The weird ladybug creature went on screaming again as she
approached me. I have not been blessed with seeing a Lilyara in years, and by far,
youre the most gorgeous one Ive ever seen!
Not this crap again. I really didnt care for yet another round of this kind of
garbage, so I looked at her for two more seconds, and went back to cupping water. I
didn't even know how she expected me to reply to that.
Oh, how did you ever make it past those Calasalians? She asked me, looking at
me with annoying curiosity and still not getting the clue I really didnt want to talk to her.
You must be a very lucky and clever Lilyara to have avoided them from seeing you!
Nah, they saw me all right, I told her, picking up the jagged-bladed, green and
red blood-stained spear to show off the fresh combat brutality. They tried to force me
into dancing to death but instead I decided tearing them apart would be more fun for both
of us instead.
And then, she gasped and looked horrified at me like she was traumatized for
life... just like what I had secretly hoped for. For once I was talking honestly to some
anonymous bug creature in this deranged zoo, and already it seemed like they would have
preferred for me to lie again. I really needed to get out of here
Oh my! Oh my! She yelped, amplifying her annoyance beyond scientifically
measurable standards. You fought and killed them!? Oh my never before has a
Lilyara ever done such a thing!
It figured. Congratulations, Demetri, you created a monster. A winner is you!
It was either that or die, I told her, cutting to the obvious point. I'm nobody's
victim, so do the self defense math and there you go.
Oh, oh no! She moaned in dismay over and over again, radically becoming
more of a mental pain to talk to. A Lilyara is never supposed to take up arms...! You
you must go see Loserra immediately and ask to redeem yourself. Yes yes, Loserra
the great Loserra would know what to do.
And who the crap was Loserra? Besides that, come on, this was just stupid. I
thought these guys from all the cutesy butt-headed Springside towns hated the evil
Calasalians. Did they want them running around being fascist clowns or not? And what
was this garbage about Lilyaras never being able to fight back? If they really thought I
was going to follow some moronic rule like that in addition to all the other trash they set
aside for this ridiculous race of flower creatures they forced me into, man, they had
another thing coming.
Speak to Loserra, young Lilyara, She continued to urge me, tugging and
shaking the giant flower petals around my waist to get my attention and radically amplify

her annoyance to astronomical levels. Speak speak to the great and wonderful
Rainbow Butterfly Guardian. Yes Loserra would know what to do.
Alright, shut up, I get the point. I didnt know what the heck this little bugs
problem was, but she was definitely becoming a pain. But I couldnt help thinking
about this "Loserra" she just mentioned. Was this in fact the Springside Guardian of
Paltaria that Tarka was talking about? If Loserra really was the Guardian, I hated to say it
to the little bug, but I was probably going to have to beat the stuffing out of him as well.
In any case, I wanted to know where this Loserra was in case that was right, since
I didnt have a clue in the world where to actually find this chump and I didn't feel like
wandering around clueless in this maggot heap any longer than I had to. If this was any
possible lead, I had to go with it. Time to play liar again.
Youre right I told her, acting like I was worried all of a sudden. Oh what
have I done? Please, tell me where I can find Loserra. I I must talk to Loserra at once.
He is... he is the Springside Guardian of Paltaria, is he not...?
Oh dont worry, young Lilyara, She went on again, annoyingly patting my
flower petals again. Youll be okay. He is the one you're looking for. Head to the
northwest and into the Violet Blossom Forest. Yes there you will keep heading north
until you arrive at the Garden of Rainbows my one of the most beautiful, aweinspiring, majestic places in all of Marsaras. This is where Loserra great Loserra
Loserra the Rainbow Butterfly Guardian dwells. Seek him now, young Lilyara.
Way to go, little bug, you just painted the prime target like you ordered a mob hit
on him. And yet again, I had abused the Lilyara talent of acting for all the wrong reasons.
I had this in the bag. Now all I had to do was beat the stuffing out of Loserra, get the
flower gem, and finally get out of this flower-infested septic pit of broken dreams and
eviscerated sanity. Running out of here was definitely one thing I could look forward to.
Oh, thank you, I told her, getting up to start dashing out of here. I will go see
Loserra right away.
"Take care now!" She smiled as she waved at me.
I left the spear behind, figuring I didn't want that ladybug thing realizing I had
been playing her for a fool. Not to mention I figured I could do without it anyway. I was
better at magic than handling those stupid things.
I went right through the river and didn't really care that I got wet. I needed to get
away from that annoying bug before she decided to start whining again or even worse,
start following me like a parasite. As for the rest of that town, I just stayed away from it,
thinking there were probably more annoying ladybug creatures in there, or possibly
something even worse and more annoying than she was. Around this place, that was
certainly a possibility I was not about to chance.
So, I followed the bugs directions and headed northwest, marching through the
fields of flowers again. It was terrible, I could tell I was getting pretty sick of doing
nothing but seeing and smelling flowers in every blasted direction I turned in for hours
and hours of walking. It made me wonder how the heck anyone could tolerate these
things for so long. I swore, I'd rather live in a graffiti-slathered slum than attempt to
tolerate a place like this.
After walking for what felt like eons, I eventually found what looked like what
probably was the Violet Blossom Forest. Pretty much, the whole thing was smothered and
flooded with purple flowers everywhere. More blossoming trees with purple flowers, and

down below, an easy-to-get-lost-in sea of purple-flowered foliage. Didnt have too much
choice here but to start walking through it, wherever it would take me. I was pretty much
convinced I was on the right path though. If everything went according to plan, Id find
the Garden of Rainbows and hopefully Loserra wouldnt be too much of a problem to
beat up and he actually was the Guardian. After all, according to that ladybug, Loserra
was just a butterfly. I mean come on, when was the last time anyone has seen a butterfly
actually kill someone or even take a bite out of someone's finger? I seriously couldnt
think of a more harmless creature. Not to mention I couldn't help but laugh at the first
five letters of this chump's name.
I kept pressing forward, not exactly happy at the fact an actual working compass
would have really helped at a time like this to avoid walking in circles, but I kept going
anyway. There were just so many freaking purple flowers everywhere and they covered
anything that could have been a decent landmark to go by. The whole forest was filled
with them, and with tiny purple petals slowly drifting down to the forest floor in all
directions. I then faced more miles of walking, literally wading through purple
flowerbeds galore.
And then, I saw different colored flowers, first indication that I was entering the
Garden of Rainbows. I didnt think much of it at first until the further I walked in, the
more insane the place got. So many freaking psychedelic colors, I could swear it made
my eyes hurt after a while. Meanwhile, the further I walked in, the bigger the flowers got.
I could also see that this was a temple, though it was pretty tough to tell at first
considering how many flowers were all over the stone columns and structures. If Loserra
wasnt the Paltaria Guardian of Springside I was looking for, heck, Id be totally at a dead
end and would have to backtrack and spend even more time in this anarchy.
I thought the massive turquoise, blue, and purple lily on my back was big and
laughably oversized, but that was nothing compared to the ones I saw there. Freaking
gigantic, I swear some of these were big enough to swallow a city bus if the driver was
really out of it that Monday morning.
Eventually I came to a circular clearing, the beating heart of this seriously bizarre
place. I saw a circle of flower-infested gray stone columns reaching five stories high, and
bam, right in the center of it all, clearly the biggest, fattest, most freaking hugest flower in
all of Springside. No joke that anyone could probably build a hulking piece of real estate
on that thing, although that would be horribly stupid to do.
Three stories high, hundreds of rainbow colored petals, and a few vines and green
leaves hanging here and there below it. I did my best to try and climb all the way up by
grabbing one of the vines, but it sure wasnt easy. Still, after a lot of pulling, straining,
and struggling to climb up, I managed to grab onto one of the massive petals and raised
myself on top of the giant flower itself, hoping for a better view of what was around here.
Once I got on the top, I realized this thing was bigger than I thought.
And as I was quick to discover, the flower wasnt the only thing there. I quickly
found out this was Loserras waiting spot. And as much as a shock of it was, Loserra sure
wasnt a little, harmless butterfly. Try a butterfly that stood freaking twenty feet tall, and
had wings the size of three story apartment buildings. And man, the colors on those wings
were beyond excessive. Probably had a billion different bright colors on those things that
went all overkill on the color spectrum.

Meanwhile, the rest of his marginally humanoid, fuzzy body was a dark gray with
several white spots, and he had to constantly slouch over to compensate for those giant
wings. That and the fact his abdomen looked like it was pretty much growing out of his
butt. Throw in two really long antennae with little bulbs on the ends, sapphire bluecolored eyes and a stern, rounded face, and thats Loserra.
The one big thing that was not hard to notice was the glowing magic insignia
tattoo on his chest. I knew that was an insignia mark connected to some circle or
organization of magic, but I didn't recognize it and I had no idea what kind of mage he
was. It definitely wasn't related to the Apex Decagram or the Nightwind Summoners, so
it had to be yet another clan. Not good, I seriously wasn't expecting to have to fight
another mage.
So he spoke to me in a strange, oddly-serine and melodic voice, I can tell
from the look of your face that youre not here for my counsel. Nor have you come to
take my place.
Take his place? What the heck was he talking about? He didn't actually think I...?
Yeah, I don't think we're on the same page, I told him, actually telling the truth
this time. "Just what pray tell are you talking about?"
Apparently, that was funny to him and he just looked dead straight at me as he
lightly laughed. All I needed to do was remind myself of what happened to the last three
aluminum clowns that laughed at me and the deranged half kitty half turkey they were
riding around.
Dont doubt me as I have been watching your every move since you stepped
inside Springside, Loserra told me as he crossed his slender arms, thinking he could read
me like a book. The winds have told me everything. You're definitely not a traditional
subservient Lilyara, thats for certain. But, I have to admit, its quite a devious move you
made, being a Raknasita Nightwind Summoner and a Apex Decagram Conjurer wizard
using your undesired Lilyara form as resourcefully as possible to trick your enemies into
thinking youre just a normal flower dancer with zero magical capabilities. The Calasal
soldiers you fought never saw it coming until it was too late, and you even lied and acted
with perfection to find your way here. And now you're here just to get the flower gem key
to unlock the Amethyst Chamber. It's a shame you don't spend that kind of energy and
effort toward something better.
How the CRAP did he figure all that out!? I couldn't freaking believe he mapped
out my entire nightmare road trip through this landfill just by listening to some winds. No
way, this guy had to have been using a bunch of magical clairvoyance spells and stuff like
that as well. Seriously, what kind of mage was this blasted butterfly!?
So much for attacking with surprise, he sure wasnt stupid like the others were.
Overpowering Loserra sure wasnt going to be a walk in the park, he knew serious magic
that I couldn't begin figure out no matter how I tried to discern his magic clan tattoo.
Might as well just cut to the chase because I certainly didn't have a blasted thing to hide
at this point.
Just hand over the flower gem so we dont have to turn this place into a war
zone, I told him, knowing it was probably a long shot but I might as well try. I really
dont-
Absolutely not, Loserra interrupted me with a sharp look in his beady eyes,
refusing to give this stupid thing up. I, being the highest-ranked Cyancaster Arch-mage

in the world fighting an Apex Conjurer and Raknasita Nightwind Summoner? Thats a
challenge and an opportunity I wont ignore. We can make a deal. If you win and you
defeat me, the flower gem is yours, as well as the privilege to take my place as the
Rainbow Butterfly Guardian of Paltaria. You will undoubtedly become the most powerful
mage ever. But, if I win, I take your summoning powers, and I send you back to Floranta
City, where you will spend the rest of your life as a dancer.
So much before being smart. I swore I had never heard so many stupid things
mentioned in only twenty seconds. I couldn't seriously believe he really thought I'd like to
be just like him as some over-sized, colorful bug in a flowerbed that had been fertilized
with caffeinated Ritalin. And that was even the grand prize for winning against this dope.
What kind of a stupid, raw deal is that? I asked him, questioning his sanity.
First off, I dont want to take your blasted place as some rainbow bug in the middle of
nowhere. Nothing bothers me if you continue to sit here while rotting away doing nothing
and stare into space in your ridiculous flower garden here. I just want the gem.
Im afraid that is not up to you, Loserra replied with a challenging look in his
eyes. Willingly or not, the one who slays the Rainbow Butterfly Guardian becomes the
next one in line, and inherits all the magical powers the previous Guardian possessed.
The Guardian role can never be extinguished, so if you defeat me, that would be you,
Skylily. The Rainbow Butterfly Guardian will always exist whether it's you or me
For crying out loud, my freaking name wasnt Skylily. But to hear that certainly
sucked, that meant if I wanted the flower gem, I was going to have to beat up Loserra
carefully and delicately without actually hurting him. Yeah, how? If he was this ultrapowerful "Cyancaster" Arch-mage, whatever that entailed, how the heck was I supposed
to take him down? If I went too far with nailing him with spells, forget it, Id be spending
the rest of my meaningless existence as some oversized, colorful bug in this annoying
flower-stuffed compost heap.
And even though as much as I would have liked to believe he was lying about
that, this mental asylum was perfectly capable of making sure something that hideous
would happen. Even though I hated both outcomes with a passion, Id way rather get
stuck with that rabbit freak Demetri as his stupid dancer slave than sit here as some stupid
overstuffed butterfly hoping someone would come along to eradicate my existence.
Either that, or find someone to play Russian Roulette with, only this time wed fill all six
chambers with uranium rounds after getting ourselves plastered with alcohol.
And meanwhile, to top it all off, I had no clue where the flower gem actually was
around here. I looked around but there was at least a trillion other things here that looked
like flowers. Even though I spotted a few chests, boxes, pots, and piles of other junk that
might have contained it, I had no clue where to start looking. Loserra could even let me
search around while he played some stupid smartphone game like Candy Clash in the
meantime, but it could still take me hours to find it. What was I going to have to do, burn
the whole bloody place down to find it? Seemed like such a load of anarchy to go through
just for a little stone and I'd probably set my own carcass on fire just by doing that. Not to
mention I didnt want to see all of the freaks and morons Springside had to offer that
would assemble here once they saw the fire.
Come now, Loserra told me, ready to fight. Lets raise a toast to the soon-to-be
best Lilyara dancer that Floranta City has ever seen! Yield to me and I can make it all
happen!

Wow, you are an idiot. As soon as I saw his gray hands flaring with a deep-blue
glow of energy, I immediately got to work on countering it with something hopefully
powerful enough to negate his attack, just hoping he was doing what I thought he was
going to do. Just before he unleashed his power, I focused my attention to raise up a wall
of blazing fire to protect me against whatever he was going to launch from his hands. It
was the only idea I could come up with that didn't involve me lighting him up.
Good thing I did that, otherwise I would have been blown right off that massive
flower in less than a second and would have enjoyed falling off and snapping my neck
after hitting the ground. On my side of the massive wall of flames, I felt nothing but
steam and a lot of humidity from the water vapor seeping through the fire as Loserras
blizzard blasted into the other side. But, in very little time, the fire wall had eventually
died down, and I was left with a massive surprise.
The flower Loserra and I were battling on was half frozen solid, while I had
noticed that the area where I put the wall up was in fact burning to cinders. As luck would
have it, it didnt take me long to realize the whole thing was catching on fire pretty
quickly. And to make things even better, when Loserra took flight to get off of our
burning battlefield, the wind he was blowing with the flapping of his wings was only
helping the fire spread around faster.
I simply ran and jumped off the edge, the worry about falling three stories down
seemed less of an issue than staying on that thing and watching myself burn up with it. As
I felt the wind blasting all around me and through every flower petal that was on my
body, as least I could be thankful for one thing. I quickly crash-landed into a massive
flowerbed, thick enough to break my fall. After rolling over twice, I got back on my feet
again. The giant flower above was nothing more than a massive burning torch now,
spraying embers in all directions and even setting other flowers and stuff on fire as well.
Great, as if I thought this couldn't get much worse.
In only a minute, it looked like the entire Garden of Rainbows had just gotten
seriously napalmed, and it wasnt long before that central flower had been burnt to the
ground. The anarchy of it was like what usually gets depicted on heavy metal album
covers. Meanwhile, I was just trying to make sure I didnt get set on fire myself, avoiding
big patches of flaming flowerbeds while trying to extinguish the flames with a few
summon water spells here and there just to make it less of a hazard for myself. Man, and
to think that back in Lashira, I thought spells to summon up plain old water were going to
be pretty much useless. Good thing I wasn't stupid enough to just pass them up.
In only a few moments, the whole central area where the giant flower used to be
was now totally black ash and burning embers. Even despite all the mayhem, Loserra still
wanted the chaos to continue. I would have easily thought he would have been
traumatized that his oh-so-precious garden was quickly becoming a raging inferno, but he
really didnt seem to care. In fact, weird as it was, he was already preparing to attack me
and set everything on fire again with flames gathering in his hands.
Well, if he didnt care, that was fine with me but I still needed to stop him without
killing him. So, to negate his attack, I prepared a water blast spell, watching my hands
glow with cyan-colored energy. As soon as he let loose a massive torrent of red-hot
flames for his hands, surging with incredible speed, I blasted them with a giant jet of
water, slicing through the fire like a hot knife through butter at then striking Loserra with
a thundering gush of water. As nice as it was to stop his attack and leave Loserra dripping

wet, it was nowhere near to finishing this battle. I could spray him with water jets all
month long and it wouldn't stop him.
I quickly took cover, hiding behind a stone pillar as I tried to figure out how to
stop him. Fire spells were totally not an option, I set him on fire and he would definitely
be a goner for sure. I could strike him with a good blast of thunder, but that could kill him
too. And man, even Summons were out of the question. As much as I would have loved
to summon the Lasika the steel bladed pterodactyl-thing being the Raknasita ranked
Nightwind Summoner that I was, that would probably kill him also. Even if not, the last
thing I wanted to do was inflict a wound on him that would later kill him by bleeding and
screw everything up.
Still, Loserra kept fighting. Just as a massive gush of consuming flames blew past
me and into another patch of already helpless burning flowers, I was running out of
options. That was until I thought of an idea. One that I nearly forgot about.
One of the earliest spells I had learned was Sokots Acid Needle, a kind of
sedative poison injection that slowed down the victim and made them weaker. I could
imagine that Loserra the big fat butterfly would probably need a heck of a lot of these,
but they were my best chance to bring him down without actually sending him to the
undertaker. Still, I wasnt too sure how much of an overdose of these would affect him,
but as far as I knew, there was no other way.
I was about to peek right out again until I saw a good portion of the column I was
leaning against was blasted apart with a massive lightning bolt, sending chunks of it
everywhere into the flowerbeds below. When it was over, I quickly stepped away and
prepared to attack. Thankfully, the acid needle spell was a quick one. Two seconds of
focus and charging was all that was needed. Then, I focused my aim on Loserra, still
keeping himself in the air by flapping his massive wings up and down. I unleashed the
needle on him, and it nicely hit him right in the abdomen. Still, considering how big he
was, the only thing that meant was that by the time the poison fully circulated around,
only his butt would be tired. If this plan meant making Loserra a big, cute, butterflywinged porcupine, I could handle it.
Loserra unleashed yet another inferno, and I just barely dodged it. Again, I had to
drench the flowers that were on me with water to stop them from burning, because I
knew a stop, drop, and roll wasnt going to do squat for me now. Then, I quickly
launched another needle at him, striking him in the left shoulder. He was a nice and easy
target to hit but man, it seemed like I was doing nothing to him.
I flew behind another stone pedestal, just before it was frozen solid with a
powerful ice beam that Loserra launched. This was just crazy now, I knew this place
would become a war zone before this battle even started but I didn't think Loserra would
totally be okay with heaps of collateral damage. Still, just as Loserra was preparing to
unleash a fire spell again, I took aim again with another needle and hit him in the chest.
Three needles, but still no sign of him slowing down. I quickly got back down again
before he hit the same stone pedestal again with a fire blast, obliterating the pedestal into
chunks and pieces before I felt a rushing wave of fire over my back. I quickly got back on
my feet and saw the bell-shaped flower petal skirt I was wearing and the stupid giant lily
on my back were both engulfed in vicious consuming flames. It took me a while to douse
them out again, but I couldnt help but notice that I was looking terrible. Whatever

beautiful flowers were on me before were now mostly burnt to a crisp. Ah well, so
much for Demetri's lame dancing ideas.
Problem was it took me so long to flush out those flames that by the time I was
done, Loserra was prepared to strike. At that moment, I had the enjoyment of
experiencing what its like to get hit with a direct thunder blast. I was totally unprepared
for it, and in an instant, I was blasted right off my feet, thrown ten feet into the air before
I came flying back down my back. Well, at least the tortured and burnt remains of that
super-sized lily on my back were good for something although that freaking hurt for a
few moments. I landed right on it and for the most part, it broke my fall when I hit the
nice ash-covered floor of the garden, now coating my body with blackened soot. I felt so
wasted at that moment, just laying there, slowly rolling over to get back on my feet
before Loserra blasted me apart again. By now, I was covered in black soot, definitely the
final nail in the coffin when it came to any dancing career.
Dont worry, young Skylily, Loserra told me in a mocking, humorous tone. It
will all be over shortly. Once I defeat you and take your powers, Ill make sure you find
your way comfortably back to Floranta where you'll-
Just shut up already, I shouted back to him, getting off the ground. You havent
won anything yet, so quit your stupid daydreaming!
Man, I just wanted to forget about being a blasted dancer for just five seconds
while I was here. Meanwhile, he was about to attack me again when I fired another
poison needle at him and it struck him right in the forehead. The shock of him being hit
there caused him to randomly shoot out a fireball he was charging right into what looked
like a giant sized red and purple daffodil. Sure didnt take half a minute for that thing to
be burnt to a crisp. I swore, when we were done here, it was going to look like a nuclear
warhead went off here. Maybe it was well past due.
Still, it was funny, because now he was having an incredibly tough time flying
and I was sure his head and brain were getting the full fix of that sedative. His flying was
starting to dip downward and he was beginning to look a little tired. Plus as a fun little
bonus, his spell casting was terrible. Took him double the amount of time to launch a
spell with absolutely laughable accuracy. All I had to do was prepare another Sokots
Acid Needle, and yet again, another poison needle right to Loserras chest. It was like
playing darts, only a lot easier and far more fun with a living target that deserved it.
Loserra absolutely had to land now, and I could tell that the sedative poison was
spreading throughout his body all over the place to the point where it was becoming too
tiring to continue flying. While he was trying to land and find footing away from the
blazing inferno all around us, I shot him with another needle in the right side this time.
Once his feet touched the ground, there was a little more stumbling on his part, trying to
launch another fireball, but I could have laughed as it didnt come even ten feet near me
and slammed into an already burnt pile of flowers to further assist in the holocaust of
destruction. I simply charged up another acid needle, and hit him again. And even better,
in the time he spent to try and remove the needle before the poison was injected in, I shot
two more into him.
He was finished, I just smiled deviously at him trying to flutter his wings and stay
standing but it was hopeless. Seconds later, he just crashed to the ground, blowing the ash
into the air in one big smoke cloud as his giant butterfly wings softly came down to the
ground. And nicely done on his part, he blew enough ash into the air with his wings for

me to finally catch sight of the flower gem I needed, laying among a pile of other weird
stuff Loserra had collected over the years. While there were a lot of trophies, gold,
jewels, and other stuff that survived the inferno, I didn't care for it and couldn't carry with
me anyway. I quickly walked over to the flower gem, picked it up gem, rubbed off the
ash and soot and looked at it.
It was a perfect sphere made out of a transparent lime-green crystal with the
image of a rainbow colored lily flower embedded in the middle. The whole thing looked
like it was made of glass, but it felt as heavy as a rock. Still, this was exactly what I was
looking for and it seemed to be just the right size for the Amethyst Chamber mechanism,
but man, did I have to go through a world of hurt and humiliation to finally get it.
Meanwhile, I looked around and saw the Garden of Rainbows was a fiery disaster.
I normally would have ran like crazy to get out of there, but the whole freaking place was
burning to a crisp and the last thing I felt like doing was catching on fire all over again.
Plus, there was no way to escape until the whole thing had burnt down, which could take
hours considering how big the place was.
So, I quickly took the time out to charge up enough energy to unleash the best
water spell I could at my level of Conjuration. Took quite a while but when I was finally
done, I blasted the entire area with a massive water nova, ejecting a forceful ring of
crystal clear wave of water in all directions around me. For the most part, that pretty
much put out all the fires and made the chance of new ones starting pretty slim with
everything being soaked.
You Loserra mumbled to me, totally exhausted and too weak to move.
Youre not going to finish me?
What, did he want me to kill him off? Heck no, I didnt get myself half-burnt to a
crisp just so I could become him anyway. That would have been truly flat out stupid.
I freaking told you already, I came for this flower gem, I replied to him as I
showed it right to his face, quite sure I told him that even before we started fighting.
Nothing more. You can go right back to parking your buttocks on that giant flower again
once it grows back up, whenever the heck that will be again. If ever.
Im surprised Loserra replied, still looking terrible as he lay there incredibly
tired with ash smothered all over him. I cant tell you how many mages and warriors
Ive had to eliminate in their effort to take over my position as the Paltarian Guardian of
Springside. If they were stranding where you are now, any one of them would have
quickly finished me off to let themselves be adorned with the wings of the Rainbow
Butterfly Guardian.
Yeah, that sounded really swell. Sitting here bored to death parking your big
butterfly butt on an overly sized flower didnt exactly sound like much of an incentive of
getting yourself killed here in the first place. Around here, there were no TVs, no internet
connection, not even a freaking newspaper to kill time with. This place had just as much
entertainment going for it as a toilet stall. But then again, this was Paltaria we were
talking about, where the bar for sanity was so low you'd have to dig down deep into the
center of the planet to find it.
Well, you can thank your lucky stars that I couldnt possibly care less about
that, I told him, preparing to leave now that the fires were gone. As for this whole
match-up you insisted on, I have to give a mighty fine congratulations to you for

incinerating your own little hovel here. Brilliant work. Love what you've done with the
place, it really reflects your personality.
It will all grow back in only a few hours, He told me, revealing the reason why
he didnt care about how much the whole place was burnt apart. No area in Springside is
left without the grace and beauty of flowers for long. And you may not know this but
when a flower is burnt, plucked, or otherwise destroyed in Springside, it will always
grow back. The same goes for your own flowers, Lilyara.
And I was actually beginning to like the prospect of having black flowers. What a
big fat reward for getting myself fried extra crispy out here. Still, this was solely meant
for the stupid gem, and nothing more. Besides, if that really was true, there wasnt really
squat I could do about it. I figured that if I couldnt rip the stupid things off, there had to
be a catch when it came to trying to burn them off.
However Loserra continued talking, looking up at me while he lay there
totally wasted. As appreciative as I am for you deciding to show mercy and spare my
life, the choice isnt yours. I have fallen before you, and you have proven that your
superior dexterity and tactics mean you would far better qualify to be the Rainbow
Butterfly Guardian than myself, as you would defend your role far better than I have. I
have already prepared myself to enjoy the splendors of the afterlife intended for me, but I
must respect this tradition to the fullest degree, and so should you.
Words couldnt describe how much I couldnt possibly care less about this places
idiotic traditions. This place really seemed to be one compost heap custom after another.
Regardless, I was done with this place. I got what I wanted and I certainly didnt love this
place enough to stay here.
Sorry, but I sure aint sticking around this cesspool, I told Loserra casually,
beginning to walk away. If it helps void this whole stupid ritual, we'll just pretend I
forfeit, you win, and ob-la-di, ob-la-da life goes on. I really don't care.
Please He told me, about to pass out from the exhaustion. You must
understand, this is not my choice and it isnt yours. You are the only one worthy for
it now
What a stupid tradition. Seriously though, if I really ended up with his craptastic
Rainbow Butterfly Guardian role, Id end up doing things he definitely wouldnt want to
see done with it. This whacked out little continent of Paltaria would be soiling their pants
if they found out one of their own supposed Guardians was actually a part of the Silver
Vanguard. Actually I could just picture it in my mind yeah, that would be incredibly
funny, but not funny enough to actually go through with it.
And then on the other hand it really sucked, as I was leaving the Garden of
Rainbows and headed into the Violet Blossom Forest again, I couldnt help but notice that
I was in fact shedding those burnt flowers that actually looked a bit badass for brand new
ones that grew back almost instantly. By the time the hour was over and I stepped outside
of that blasted flowery forest again, every single flower had grown back and replaced its
burnt counterpart. Same thing with that massively huge lily on my back, as if nothing
ever happened.
The return back through Springside took me several days worth of time, but it was
a lot better knowing the importance of blasting through rivers than taking bridges that
lead to certain doom. Somehow I managed to avoid detection by the Calasalians on the
way back, but when it came to Floranta City, I absolutely had to hit the river. If I ran into

Demetri again, I would have had to snap his neck in fifty places in order to have him get
his hands off me. And lastly, the nightmare ended as I finally trudged through that final
field of flowers heading back to the Nexus Gate.
Considering what I had gone through, I couldnt even begin to imagine what had
happened to the others
Chapter 8 The Missing
I finally arrived back at the stone Nexus Gate to discover there was only one other
person who came back besides me. Sitting there, relaxing comfortably and probably
enjoying he won first place in this race, was Jeff the Draco, leaning against the central
stone, snoozing as he waited for the rest of us. I really didn't feel like waking him up and
showing him what happened to me, but I knew he'd have to find out eventually.
Better just get this over with.
I slowly walked to him pitifully, nudged him in his dragon snout with the flower
gem, and it had startled him. He quickly just looked at the gem and then just looked at
me.
Freaking mission accomplished, I told Jeff, not exactly happy at how incredibly
miserable it had been.
He looked at me for a few seconds, sized me up, and I was sure his imagination
was running wild with ideas about how it all happened.
Looks like they didn't go easy on you, He stated in shock, just looking at me.
"You don't even sound the same."
What a heck of an understatement, and I had even forgotten that my voice had
been changed to sound a little more... pleasant. I found it only nurtured my need and
overwhelming desire to smash glass and scream obscenities right about now. I just turned
around, sat down and started leaning against the same stone he was sitting against, once
again getting quickly reminded there was a monster-sized flower on my back.
Those are all real flowers? He told me, just looking at me in disbelief. What
exactly happened?
Don't even get me started, I told him, really not up to talking about the deadly
cocktail known as Sun Water. This placed is stuffed with all kinds of asinine problems.
Thankfully, he didn't press the issue. I could see he had the snowflake gem in his
clawed hands, but to me, it seemed like he barely had any trouble getting it. Right now, I
felt like I should have screamed to Sarah requesting to go someplace else besides
Springside before walking into there, but now it was too freaking late for that.
Ken, theyre just flowers, He told me, looking at me like that was nothing. It's
not like they're trying to kill you. I saw things in Wintershire that were much worse.
"Seriously, check this out," I told him, knowing he needed to know the full story
about this.
Silently, I showed him my arm, took one of his claws, and I lightly ran a small
scratch on my arm. His face totally changed when he saw the blood that came out was
green, and then even better, watching the cut itself totally heal back to normal only a few
seconds later.
Thats almost disgusting, He grimaced. "Your blood is green now?"

This whole thing is twisted, I told him blatantly, still feeling incredibly weird
about it. The flowers can't be ripped off and burning them off just makes them grow
right back up again. This sucks, man, who did I piss off to deserve this?
Beats me, Jeff shrugged, having no clue how hed probably tolerate this
himself. We should have sent you to Summerfield instead. Sarah probably would have
been better suited for this.
That was definitely true, even though I didnt trust anything here, not in any of
these four psychiatric wards of this giant mental hospital known as Paltaria. This whole
continent was messed up, and I had the distinct feeling that no matter where the heck I
went around here, something stupid was bound to happen in one way or another. I swore,
it all came down to picking the least stupidest place.
Let's make a deal," He started up again, "Tell me what happened in Springside
and I'll tell you what happened in Wintershire. I have a strong feeling what I saw was not
a far offshoot from what you had to deal with."
Now he had me curious. It was going to be hard to confess all this, but I had to
know what he saw for himself since I really wanted to compare the two.
"Okay, then," I told him with a sigh, getting ready to share the full brutal story.
I confessed to everything. Every miserable and hideous moment that happened to
me in Springside I told him about. Entrapment in Floranta, the blasted Sun Water, my
pains with Demetri the stupid rabbit and his stupid dancing lessons with the other Lilyara,
my fun times with the Calasalian soldiers, then with me running into that stupid ladybug
creature and then wrapping it all off with me fighting Loserra the Rainbow Butterfly
Guardian. I went through the entire thing and he didnt say a word until I was done.
The Silver Vanguard was right, Jeff replied, nodding his head. There is
something wrong with this place.
Your turn, I told him, knowing that was the deal.
Jeffs story wasnt any less psychotic than mine. He told me how he was flying
through the snowy mountains of Wintershire, and was hit with a wing snare that brought
him to the ground. After, he was held captive by the Pine Folk as he described, people
that in fact looked and dressed very similar to snowy pine trees. He then managed to burn
the bars of his cage with his fire breathing, and he headed back down south, further into
Wintershire. It wasnt until he reached the Ice Shale City did he finally find out the
location of Wintershires Guardian after blackmailing an anthropomorphic Pingvian
penguin civilian, and then ending up fighting a whole feud of the Pingvian Ice Shale City
guards and a whole slew of sentient snowmen called the Snonen. Since he had the
information he needed anyway, he could thank the stars above that he had wings and they
didnt. Simply enough, he flew all the way to the Frostmane Cavern, where he confronted
Koslabian the giant forty foot tall yeti, a big white furred gorilla like creature with loads
of teeth and horns. I then quickly realized how Jeff managed to get the snowflake gem.
The whole thing was encased in ice, and using his fire breath, he melted it out, grabbed
the gem itself, and then flew off, not even fighting against Koslabian himself.
Thank you, I now see why Paltaria is off-limits for anyone with some semblance
of sanity, I told him, knowing his situation was just as craptastic as mine. I guess every
way is the wrong way around here.
If this was the case, I couldnt even imagine what Sarah and Mark could be going
through. But heck, I was done. Stuck as a Lilyara, yeah, nothing I could do about that

now but at least it was over. I didnt have to think about becoming some four-headed pig
freak or whatever forsaken monster this place could vomit out.
Hours passed, still no sign of Sarah or Mark. The thought of what could be
happening to them in Summerfield and Autumnvale kept coming to mind but of all the
things I was thinking about, it was probably way off. It was impossible to wrap my mind
around this place. Meanwhile, knowing what kind of magic and clairvoyance Loserra
had, I was just hoping he wasn't sending his cronies after us.
Jeff and I couldnt help but discuss things that had nothing to do with Marsaras.
Family life, how much our jobs at Camp Brigham sucked horribly, and even thinking
about what had happened to good old Al Gladieri when he realized we never showed up.
What I wouldnt do to just have a few moments to show him what really did happen to
his car after all and see him get horrified about it. It was a shame hed never see it
though.
And then, it happened. Jeff and I were nearly dozing off after I got water back in
Springside and Jeff came back from getting a bite to eat in Wintershire until I felt
something dropped in my limply opened palm. I quickly woke up and looked down to see
it was the amber-colored maple leaf gem. I quickly realized that was a good sign and
Mark was back. I then looked up and when I saw him, I nearly jumped.
There he was, now only a foot tall, hovering in the air with his new pixie wings
making rapid-fire flickering sounds. He wasnt wearing his old sneakers any more, but
instead he now had little brown cloth shoes with a pointed tip at the toes. The good gray
cargo pants were gone, replaced by a kilt that went down to his knees, consisting of
orange, yellow, red and brown raindrop-shaped leaves with a slight tip at the ends. He
also wore a loose cloth shirt that had all the autumn colors on it, but that wasnt the best
part.
Marks raven-black hair was gone for good, replaced with wild, fiery red, orange,
yellow, and brown hair, an obvious autumn coloring. And to finish it all off, two gray
antennae about four inches in length came out of his head and through his autumncolored hair and slightly drooped downward toward the ends. Totally freaking ridiculous.
I swore, it would be heartless and cruel to not to try and find a way to reverse all the
crappy things that had happened to this poor soul.
Mark, that's... Jeff muttered to him, a bit taken back at the sight of Mark the
pixie, "...mother of mercy, that's bad. And to think I once thought I was the unlucky one.
Yeah, keep thinking that, I told him, pretty annoyed at that comment and
figured that was seriously rubbing a ton of salt on Mark's wounds. When we finally do
get home, remind me to get a digital camera ready for that special moment when Mr. and
Mrs. Benson finally get to see what had become of their son, Jeff the dragon boy and his
habanero breath.
Guys, please jus shut up, Mark told the two of us with a slightly more
tranquil-sounding voice now, but still totally downcast as his flying was beginning to dip.
Alright? Shut up please. Somebody agree with me that maybe this was a seriously bad
idea. How well do we know these Silver Vanguard guys an' can be for sure somethin'
even exists in that underground chamber?
"Yeah, I'm trying not to think about that possibility," I replied, knowing that
would only make things worse.

Mark decided to stop flying and landed on his feet on the ground. Only then could
I actually visibly see his pixie wings. On his back were four pixie wings in an Xformation, totally translucent, but they were huge, or at least they were for Mark's way
smaller size. The bottom two reached down to his feet while the other two went at least
three inches above his head, kind of like a dragonflys only more pointed at the ends.
What surprised me was how he even managed to haul the leaf gem back as a tiny fairy.
The thing was almost half his size.
It was then that Mark snapped and told us his story. Terrible was an
understatement. The way Mark described his jam, I think I might have gone back to
Springside and grabbed Springpetal and Cherry Blossom by the hands and dance the
hideous and humiliating Springtime Circle screaming with glee all over again to avoid
what Mark had gone through. And that that meant a lot.
It started off normal. Mark was walking through fields of autumn leaves trees and
thats when he met his biggest horror. Pumpkin people, called Phampkins as Mark told
us, like the very name burned a nightmare scar in his mind, the way a bloody horror films
traumatize little children and makes them afraid of the dark all over again. He told us
they were like zombie pumpkins with twisted, fat green heads where a stem should have
gone, and stubby orange arms and legs to waddle with and shamble around in massive
pumpkin patches.
Mark, like the sane Fluxeon he was at the time, avoided them like the plague to
prevent himself from ending up as a Pamphin himself, again, sticking to familiar zombie
survival tactics. Most he could do was shoot them with his bow and arrows, which in fact
did nothing but leave a lot of arrows sticking in their pumpkin bodies. It was evident that
if he was going to stop them, he was going to need something better, like a rocket
launcher or M1A2 Abrams tank. Since neither of these essential devices were available,
he had to just run the heck away. What was even worse was in his efforts to try and
escape, he found a whole village of them by horrible accident and never found out the
name, but I figured Fecaltown was a great placeholder.
And just when it seemed like things couldnt get any worse as he tried to get away
from Fecaltown, the swift and clever Autumn Willow Pixies that lived in Autumnvale
were at a constant war with the Phampkins. And to poor Mark and his hideous luck, he
was quickly spotted by the Autumn Willow Pixies and they admired him for his efforts
against the Phampkins. They truly felt Mark was fighting the Phampkins on their behalf
when in fact it was just for his own survival. But, as Mark standing here before us had
proved, those same pixies loved Mark enough to make him one of their own with the help
of a little Autumn Willow Pixie dust each of the them spread around all the time even
unintentionally. So, they flew around and around him and so began the story of Marks
race change when he accidentally inhaled the stuff, shrinking him by quite a heck of a lot.
As for the Guardian of Autumnvale, after flying through two more towns of
autumn-related mayhem involving overly-possessive anthropomorphic squirrels called
Brushcatchers, Mark came face to face with Lotokus, the walking, living oak tree. The
fighting between Mark and Lotokus was minimal as I figured if he flew fast enough, you
wouldn't even be able to see him. As much as Mark didnt want to fly with those wings
after what happened to him, he was super fast with them and he managed the snatch the
leaf gem out of the cave where Lotokus kept his junk and stuff.

His trip back got even worse though. Just when he thought he was home free, the
Autumn Willow Pixies found him yet again, and he was just barely able to hide the leaf
gem in time. They brought him back to their treetop village called Maplewood when
really Mark just wanted to get the heck out of there, and forced him to go through initiate
training. They stuffed a silver bow in his hands capable of shooting lightning bolts, and
they actually trained him to use his pixie nature and healing magic. He went through
loads of long and painful hours of training, and when they finally let him go to blow up
more Phampkins, he flew as fast as he could out of there, recovered the gem he hid
earlier, and then he got here. No wonder it took him longer than the two of us.
So, we shared our stories of pain, misery, humiliation, terror, disaster, strife, and
suffering. Mark didnt believe the whole bit with Loserra and I didn't care enough to
actually prove it by lugging his pixie butt all the way over there to pay him a visit. I doubt
I would have believed a story about a twenty-foot tall rainbow butterfly if someone else
told me, but I knew what I saw and had to endure.
And we waited again, hoping it wouldnt take Sarah that much longer to get out of
Summerfield so we could all evacuate the premises immediately before anyone found us
here. It was a pain, again I had to go back into lovely old Springside to get water, Jeff had
to make another run into Wintershire for a meal, totally blowing the rest of his cash and
my cash while Mark had finished off what was left of some super-sugary Dezzy berries
that had been given to him by his pixie friends. We got back once again and decided we
would give Sarah ten more hours.
Man, we were bored to tears while we waited for her. I didnt even have my
smartphone to play a hideously mind-numbing and wallet-burning game of Candy Clash.
Mark was bored enough to actually go flying around again and after enough talking about
it, Jeff tried to imitate the stupid way the Pine Folk talked and acted, and I showed Mark
and Jeff how ridiculous the Springtime Circle actually was, sincerely hoping Sarah
wouldn't catch me doing it at that exact moment. I kept hoping that sometime in the near
future I would actually forget how to do this stupid thing.
Ken, just stop doing that, Jeff remarked as I was midway through the dance.
We get the idea. It's bad.
Dude Mark told me, just turning his head away as he used his wings to float
in midair. Im not gonna to be able to get that outta my mind for a while.
Yeah, I told you guys, that's the kind of thing I had to deal with, I told the two
of them, knowing it was the hideous truth. They were ready to force me into doing that
kind of lunacy for the rest of my life, which is, as craptastic luck would have it, now eight
hundred freaking years. I had the pleasure of finding that out too because obviously this
wasn't enough of a fist to my face, wasn't it now?
"That's great, dude, I'm stuck as freakin' Tinkerbell for the next five hundred and
seventy," Mark replied, thinking his situation wasn't much better. "Heck, at least ya
stayed normal size. I practically have to keep flyin' so I don't get stepped on! How am I
supposed to live like this!?"
He had a point, his situation sucked pretty badly also. If I had to choose between
his crappy foot-tall pixie fate and my own flower-infested nightmare, it would actually be
a pretty freaking difficult choice, because they were both awful on astronomical levels.
Seriously, we absolutely had to find a way to undo these racial changes and get back to

being humans however possible. I could have the Celestial Rifts Bible in front of me and
all memorized, and I knew we were still far from out of here.
"Mark, seriously, we're not leaving this planet until we undo these curses," I told
him, knowing that was these really were. "There's got to be at least one way to do it."
"Yeah, but didn't Ravi say-"
"Bullcrap, old foxy can't possibly know everything," I quickly interrupted, really
beginning to doubt that guy. "The only agonizing catch is we're stuck like this until we
have the Celestial Rift in front of us. Only then should we really change back so we don't
change into something else. Like those Phampkins you were talking about. Or worse,
which could also be painfully possible."
I still couldnt get Marks description of Phampkins out of my mind and with
him being stuck with virtually nothing to stop them with no less. I was wrong, that was
actually much worse than zombies. But, he got the better of the two, even if the only
alternative was being stuck as a pixie. Heck, even being a Lilyara sounded exhilarating
compared to those pumpkin freaks. From all the possible craptastic races that were in
Paltaria from Phampkins, idiot Bunnykin, senile Pingvians, stupid ladybug freaks, fatso
arrogant butterflies, abysmal Snonen, moronic pine tree people, deranged yetis, and
idiotic Brushcatcher squirrels, I was actually beginning to believe I lucked out by
becoming this.
And then, come several hours later, we got tired of waiting and the deadline had
finally arrived. All three of us knew Paltaria was incredibly screwy in ways we would
have never imagined prior to heading into here, but now, anything could have happened
to Sarah, whether it was something simple or something serious. I knew she would have
hated for us to come in there and try to rescue her, but at this moment, it would have been
stupid to let her sit there if she really was having problems with this place.
Think shes okay? Jeff asked, looking toward Summerfield with still no sign of
Sarah anywhere.
Honestly... no, I told him, being really frank about it. I don't think she's dead,
but chances are quite possible she may be totally traumatized for life. I have every reason
to believe shes being harassed by some sort of weird freaks just like the three of us were,
only shes not going through it too well and cant get herself out.
Guess we gotta go after her, Mark told me as he hovered slightly above us,
turning around to look at Summerfield. I mean, she could be stuck as a captive
somewhere. It shouldnt be takin this long.
I sighed painfully, really not ready to head into Summerfield, see more psychotic
horrors of Paltaria, and find what hideousness had become of our friend Sarah. But heck,
if I were in a jam in this miserable place yeah, Id want someone to bail me out as well.
Certainly would have been nice to call in a Navy SEAL team to bail me out of freaking
Floranta.
After we decided to just do this and make it quick, Jeff and I stood up while Mark
hovered around us and we headed toward the grassy fields of Summerfield, agreeing that
every three days we should check back to see if she returned to the Nexus Gate totally by
herself. But honestly, I was really hoping it wouldnt take nearly that long to find her and
get the sun gem, whether she actually got it by herself or not.
As soon as we stepped into the grass, it was scorching hot. Reminded me a lot of
the heat we had back in Phoenix, only it wasnt that bad. Still, I quickly realized I had

taken Springsides comfortable temperatures for granted. More trudging through really
dry grass, plenty of weird insects, and still, no sign of any real life.
However, after maybe an hour of walking, the three of us came across a small
makeshift village in front of a pond that was right besides a massive forest. The houses, if
they could even be called that, were pretty small, made of sticks and mud, had roofs of
straw and hay and maybe only had one or two rooms inside them. I thought it would been
a meeting place for a farming community but it didnt seem like that at all. It looked very
makeshift, and it was the kind of thing the three of us could have set up in five minutes.
Whatever made it probably was stupid at architecture and piled up heaps of stuff at
random until it stood up.
I wouldnt have had any issues with the place until we saw its citizens. Man, I
knew it. I knew we wouldnt have spent even just two hours in this place before seeing
something stupid and weird again.
Outsiders! One of them screamed like a bratty kid. Nah! Nah! Stop them,
fellow Florza!
As much as I would have liked to whip out a machine gun, start mowing them
down while laughing mechanically while shouting taunting obscenities and memorable
one-liners from gangster and action movies, that wasnt possible. At least not the machine
gun part, which of course was the most important for effect.
And then dozens upon dozens of Florza came charging out of their houses and
holes to confront us. The three of us sighed in annoyance as we saw truckloads of twofoot high creatures with big, fat ugly heads that I guess were supposed to be sunflowers,
and leafy green bodies and vine-like arms that swayed around like tentacle horror. In
addition to complement the lack of sanity to whatever allowed these things to exist, they
had big, beady black eyes on their sunflower heads, little black noses, and massive
mouths that always appeared to be smiling.
Man, what is wrong with this place?, Mark asked, simply repeating the same
question that we've been thinking about the entire time we've been here.
Naaaah! One of them shouted loudly, apparently adoring that annoying, wailing
baby sound. Lilyaras, Dracos, and Pixies dont belong in Summerfield! Nah! Nah!
"I bet this never stops," I told Jeff and Mark.
Wow, not only were they ugly and annoying as sin, but they were incredibly
stupid too. All they kept doing was looking at each other, smiling, saying more annoying
nah sounds and jumping up and down like psychotic chimpanzees wired with a whole
assortment of wild drugs. I just looked to Jeff and Mark out of the corner of my eye.
"They're not going to let us pass without... problems," Jeff stated, not even liking
the idea of getting close to those things.
I say we eradicate them, I told them, totally overcome with the urge to just
destroy them all. Put them all out of their idiotic misery.
Ken, if ya had it your way, yad probably nuke this whole continent apart, Mark
replied, pretty much speaking the truth anyway. But I agree, screw these things.
Probably just as bad as the Phampkins
As long as they dont touch me, Jeff replied, not up for ever taking initiative
like usual.
And then, they started charging, screaming as they starting running and skipping
toward us like sunflower zombies from the garden of doom. I then had the sheer

displeasure of discovering I was the only one out of us three that couldnt fly. Jeff
immediately spread his dragon wings and soared off the ground while Mark was speeding
around like a hummingbird, getting ready with his bow. Jeff wasn't too hard to lose track
of, but as for Mark, I swore the guy flew so fast now that it was like he could disappear.
Meanwhile, I was on the freaking ground all by myself.
I quickly learned what Florza liked to attack with. Acid spit. Anything they spat
on got sizzled and burnt away like it was the most corrosive and disgusting stuff on the
planet. And they sure could spit far. Besides that, they had leafy hands that they tried to
use for slapping.
Quickly, I got to work on a summon. Before anything disturbing happened
Las machodaz Nighwindash scarmonas ci gaznardash vinc somnia
And as I looked at their pitiful, smiling faces, I had a good idea of who would be a
great candidate to lay waste to these freaks.
Sectash forodoth Volvasta!
Volvasta, the sinister flame drake, very much like a dragon but a bit smaller. Red
scaly body, intimidating eyes, sharp teeth, giant bat-like wings, and razor-sharp claws
was everything I loved about this summoned companion of mine. He burst out of the
flaming sigil, spinning like a rotating drill before shattering the ground apart and turning
around to look at the situation below as he continuously flapped his wings to stay afloat.
He then turned toward me, the one who summoned him.
Your bidding? He asked me with a nice, intimidating growl.
Blast these stupid and pathetic Florza into flaming cinders, I told him, pointing
my finger toward the intended targets. Light 'em up!
He then looked at the Florza for himself, and nodded.
Gladly, He replied, letting loose a little black smoke from his nostrils.
I could have cracked up laughing at that. The stupid Florza were looking right at
him, still smiling, still totally clueless and unaware of the danger and certain mortal
death that was in store for them.
Volvasta flew back a few feet, gathered a large mass of flames in his mouth, and
then launched the massive, merciless fireball right at the helpless group of Florza. Instant
incendiary destruction. Volvasta had vanished with a white flash as his part was done
while at least a good third of the Florza were smothered with burning flames.
One of them was about to attack me from the side until Jeff had swooped down
and slashed apart its head like a hunk of milkweed being shoved in a paper shredder. And
then, I turned toward Mark and he actually used his nature magic to summon up thorny
vines from the ground that wrapped around a bunch of Florza before pulling them
underground to whatever grizzly death awaited them. Not a bad kind of spell for a pixie.
In less than three minutes, we had the entire roach-like pack annihilated, totally
without any of us taking a scratch. How these stupid things even still existed on this
planet before we had gotten here, I had absolutely no idea. I figured they were probably
some kind of plant vermin and were all over the place in Summerfield like some
annoying, swarming insects that just didn't know when to quit.
Jeff looked ready for more, but Mark looked like he didn't even like fighting as a
pixie. Well, he was going to have to get used to it soon, because we weren't even coming
close to shaking that off.

"Any more?" Jeff asked, looking like he wouldn't mind ripping up another one
just out of pleasure.
"No, but I'm sure there will be others," Mark replied, shrugging as he hovered
next to our heads. "Stuff like this... yeah, it jus' never goes away."
I then turned back to the town. Man, it sure felt good to have known we totally
wiped out an entire village of sunflower freaks, but there were probably many, many
more of them, because annoyances like that never die quickly. Meanwhile, Mark and Jeff
just looked at each other.
There could be food in some of those houses, Jeff told him, heading toward it,
It would be better than going back.
I figured I might as well help them, even though I painfully knew I didnt need
any of it myself anymore. It was going to take a while for me to get used to being and
looking like this, but I was still relieved I was able to bail myself out of being a stupid
dancer
Still, in the meantime, it was anyones guess on what Sarah had become.
Chapter 9 The Infiltrators
The Florza village was raided by the three of us like zombie apocalypse season
was in full swing. Most of these houses were an architectural disaster, and every single
one we walked into looked like it could collapse on our heads at any moment. I was no
master architect, but I swore I could draft up a better floorplan than this when I was four
years old.
Still, the thought of Florza and their hopelessly stupid culture made one thing very
clear. It was hard to see it, but the more stupid creatures I saw in Paltaria, the more I
couldnt help but actually feel great this was all that happened to me and not anything
even worse. I think Id kill myself if I became a hideous Florza, or a Phampkin, or any of
the other hideous moronic creatures that Mark, Jeff, and I had run into. The ratio of
relatively bearable creatures was being quickly and greatly overshadowed by the vast,
overwhelming majority of helplessly stupid and annoying ones.
By the time night had come around, we managed to grab enough food to last Jeff
and Mark for four days, mostly consisting of some weird looking fruit, bread, cornmeal,
and some other weird stuff Jeff and Mark were pretty sure was food, but would be need
checked first to make sure that whatever it was could actually be edible. Truthfully, half
of that stuff I wouldnt touch with a ten foot pole and was glad I didn't have to. In the
meantime, we were setting up one of the houses as a place for the three of us to sleep for
the night, even though I felt like I could put up something better in ten minutes. I was just
hoping I wouldn't wake up in the morning buried in the foliage roofing material.
I could tell these Florza put up these crappy houses, but the beds, tools, chairs,
and all the other stuff in them obviously had to be stolen from someone else. There was
no freaking way Florza could make pots and pans, beds and chairs, and rugs and
bedsheets like these. And they sure didn't take good care of them either.
Still, we set up two beds in a single house, one for Jeff and one for myself. Both
of them were pretty rickety and obviously were made for someone who was not a Florza.
For Mark, as a pixie, he didn't need anything bigger than a pillow. But, when it came
down to the food, distributing it between the three of us was a really awkward situation. I

didn't actually need anything to eat and Mark didn't need such a big pile considering he
was only a foot tall.
"Jeff, come on, man," Mark told him. "Look at me, I don't need that much. I
couldn't down a single cookie at this size."
"It's pretty much all yours," I told Jeff, shrugging. "I only need water and Mark
could practically get full off of a bird feeder."
"Seriously, jus' water?" Mark asked me, thinking that was even more nuts than his
situation.
"Yeah, I told Mark honestly, still feeling weird about it, but willing to deal with it
for better or for worse. I'm a freaking lily flower, Mark, don't even bother asking me
what toppings I'd like on my pizza because I can't even digest it. So just give me any
container you have that will hold water in it and let's not keep talking about it."
Mark just shrugged and that was it. Two piles, a really tiny one for Mark and a
whole truckload for Jeff. Meanwhile, I got a clay jug with a leather strap that I could sling
around my shoulder and put it by my side. I could probably fill it with a gallons worth of
water in there and that was all I needed, a fully-loaded Lilyara survival kit. Boy, was this
ridiculous.
Jeff had to carry pretty much all of the food and stuff while I was in charge of
carrying the flower, leaf, and snowflake key gems in just a regular leather bag besides the
clay jug. Having the responsibility of carrying those high-liability things made me feel
like I was trying to smuggle drugs and guns into the Pentagon. I had a bad feeling these
Paltaria clowns were already onto us and were off on a manhunt all over the continent.
We were freaking lucky they hadn't found us at the Nexus Gate.
I slept on the rickety bed toward the back of the room, while Jeff took the one
right by the front door and Mark slept on a feather pillow by the entrance. I swore, these
Florza barely managed to get this clay and wooden stick house standing, and were
probably the most idiotic of architects. Once I got on the bed, it had that annoying oneleg-longer-than-another rocking feeling you always got with chairs at school or with the
table at a cheap restaurant, but as long as I stayed on one side, it wouldnt keep doing it.
After lying on the bed, I didnt really use the quilt or blanket covers because it
was totally impossible to pull them over the giant flower on my back, so I just dealt with
it and said screw them. We called lights out, and tried to head off to sleep, but honestly, I
really wasnt tired. The sounds of Summerfield at night were filled with all sorts of weird
insect and howling noises, but I didnt care
Knowin ya, Ken, Im surprised ya arent totally infuriated that youre a Lilyara,
Mark told me, breaking the silence between the three of us.
Well, if you've been losing sleep over it, Im sure as cow crap aint happy about
it, Mark, if thats what youre wondering, I told Mark the truth, remembering it
happening quite clearly though I wanted to change the subject quickly. Im sure you
werent so happy about becoming a cute, little fairy either. Seriously, man, I thought we
agreed to lay off that subject.
He didnt say anything, but man, I knew for a fact he wasnt thrilled about me
mentioning that just from the look on his face. Plus I was sure he was sick of being only a
foot tall and having to wear that really stupid-looking skirt that looked like it was made of
autumn leaves, but he didnt have anything else to wear, especially at that size. The only

way we could get him a change of clothes was to raid a toy store and strip a action figure.
Still, in the dim light, he looked at me again, and just sighed out of frustration.
So what do ya think happened to Sarah? Mark asked me, wondering what
became of her.
Dude, knowing her and the way she acted before, she probably doesnt even
want to leave this whacked out place, I told him, feeling she was a total nutcase before
this even all happened. She wants to be here because I'm sure something stupid at home
bothers the crap out of her and she'd rather not face it."
Mark looked down again, sighed, and then looked back up to me.
Yeah, I was afraid of that Mark replied, agreeing with me. Seriously, weve
been givin her too much control. I mean come on, I bet she thinks were never gonna to
go after her.
We need to if we want that sun gem, I told him frankly, knowing I wanted this
mission done for all the grief it caused. I dont care, we are not staying here, even if she
wants to. I know this whacked out place has a thing about it that tries to keep you here for
the rest of your life. Plus I'd rather not let everything else go to waste like it has been.
Just when I thought dragon boy was asleep, he actually spoke up
You're probably right, Jeff replied, probably unable to sleep either around here
with all the stupid noises. But if she really wants to stay, we should just let her.
Not a chance, I told him, knowing that was definitely not the way to think about
this. Trust me, there is nothing here worth staying for, I don't care how bad she might
have it back home. I mean come on, what is she going to do, live here in Paltaria? Get
real. If we need to back up our testimony with more evidence, trust me, I know just who
to find, and Mark knows it too.
Mark snickered a little and just shook his head in disbelief. It was true though,
and if the Florza werent enough to reinforce the truth that this place was stupid, we had
plenty of resources to left, including those idiotic Phampkin freaks and my psychotically
twisted nemesis Demetri the senile, sadist rabbit.
Try to see this from her perspective, Jeff told us, trying to see things from
Sarahs side. She might have turned into something bad, and because of that, shes too
afraid to go home now because of her appearance. That might be why she gave up the
mission.
Come on, I told Jeff, knowing that could be right but still no reason to stick
with this stupid place. I mean if I havent given up after being turned into this floral
catastrophe and Mark decided to endure getting pixiefied, well, gentlemen, she has no
excuse. I dont care if I spend another freaking eight hundred years like this, I just want to
go home and get the heck out of here.
Dude, I can't go back like this Mark told me, feeling strange about it.
Seriously, you guys can't either. What will people think of us? I mean geez, Ken, its not
like any of us three appearin' in public now will not go without causin' a whole heck of a
lot of attention.
Crap, he was right though, but honestly, I really dont care what some random
people think. I get enough gawks and vacant zombie stares just from people driving. I
was still totally bent on getting out of here, I didn't mind the aftermath. This place was
dangerous... in several disturbing ways.

We can worry about that later, I told the two of them, knowing there had to be
another option. If half of Hollywood can pass for humans and reality television is still a
thing, I dont think well have too much trouble either.
Jeff and Mark were pretty silent, but in real people terms, I didn't have a clue as to
how anyone would take the sight of us like this. I honestly didnt know what we were
going to do about it either, but in the meantime, this seriously wasnt an issue. Getting out
of here was, I didnt even want to consider what it was going to take.
If you say so, Ken, Jeff replied, lying back down again.
Yeah, let's not forget about ya either, Jeff, Mark told him, feeling weird about it.
In my opinion, Ken and I would actually do okay in public. Sure, raise some attention,
but not scare the pants off of little kids like you would. Any kid who looks right at ya is
gonna have a hot feces surprise comin' out of their burrito blowhole next second.
I broke out laughing, it served that little sports jock right. Those claws, those
wings, that face, dang, Jeff would be lucky if he could take one walk through the mall
without alerting security. The more I thought about it the more I kept laughing. They
were going to think he was right out of one of those horror movies, like that really gory
one The Dead Chamber. Ha, ha, man, Jeff would do well to star in the sequel to that
psychotic horror movie.
Right, Jeff replied, not really laughing about it. Setting that aside, lets just try
to rest.
Figures I might as well. It was already pretty late, and I was feeling tired.
Meanwhile, all I had to do was lay flat on my stomach and I could cover the entire bed
with my flower petals. It was ridiculous, but whatever. I just shut my eyes and easily
dozed off, regardless of the outside noises that kept annoying us.
That next morning, I awoke and it was finally quiet. Meanwhile, I looked around
to see Mark and Jeff were still sleeping. Man, I didnt know what kind of insanity we
were going to have to put up with today as we tried to find Sarah, but I had to prepare for
anything. Meanwhile, I knew it could be tough to recognize Sarah if something really did
happen to her. In fact, Jeff was our best lead, since she already knew he turned into a
Draco. As for Mark, forget it, she'd have to look at him up close to even see his face. It
was more of a matter of hoping she would call out to us first, but before that could
happen, we needed to find her. And around here that was like trying to find someone
lost at the mall, someone who we didnt even know looked like. Unless by miraculous
chance, Sarah was still human. But man, I highly doubted that one.
Mark got up after a little while, and then looked toward Jeff, still snoozing and
letting out a disturbing growling sound instead of snoring. Made me wonder. Was it really
better to be like this, or be a growling monster like Jeff? It seemed like there were pro and
cons to both to be honest. But, when it came down to it and what I figured was worse it
all sucked in the end.
I decided to have Mark join me outside so we could actually have some
semblance of a conversation. We headed out a short distance away from the house, but
even there we could still hear him snarling like World War III was going on in his snout.
Mark at least put his wings to good use, flying and hovering in the air with his wings
making that rapid-fire flickering sound as we tried to talk this out.
Man, he sounds awful Mark told me, getting out of his bed. He seems more
dragon than human.

Well, whatever, I told him, even if it was a little funny. While lizard boy gets
his beauty sleep, we need to consider something
And whats that? Mark asked me, wondering what I had in mind.
I knew this was not going to be a piece of cake. I had no freaking clue what was
before us in Summerfield, and like heck I was about to trust any of it.
Sarah could be anything, I told him, knowing nothing was stopping this place
from being the psychosis that it was. If by strange and weird chance she had become one
of the Florza, then at least we put her out of her painful and hideous misery. I doubt it
though, she's a freaking necromancer. She probably had the angel of death, doom hounds,
and the Grim Reaper all over those brats.
So what are ya sayin? Mark asked me again, wondering what my point was all
this time.
We need Jeff to lead, I told him, knowing he was the key to finding our little
passive-aggressive princess precious. Sarah knows Jeff is a Draco, and thank the
heavens above that didnt change while she was gone. However, she has no clue what
happened to the two of us and won't recognize us. So let Jeff lead.
Well, thank goodness Mark was catching on quickly. And thank goodness he
could actually hear and understand me over Jeffs slumber snarls
Right, but how do we get her to come to us? Mark asked, seeing this was going
to be pretty tough, Heck man, we dont even know where she is
Again, what Im hoping for is that when she sees Jeff, she comes forward, I told
him, knowing that sounded a heck of a lot easier than it was actually going to be. And
hopefully, if were lucky, she already has the sun gem.
Eh, I doubt that, Mark told me honestly, thinking I was being way too hopeful.
If she got in a jam, Im thinkin it's because she wasnt able to get it.
That, unfortunately, did make sense too. Plus, in order to find her, we needed to
think like her. Okay, as I really thought about it, I realized that might be really tough. She
hated everything I liked, and just adored proving me wrong at every opportunity. We
were on totally different tangents when it came to all that. Still though, this place was
huge, and we really didnt know what direction she decided to wander off in. My biggest
fear was heading deep in there, and realizing we took a wrong turn
I could see us being stuck here for months
After some time, the hideous snoring finally stopped. Mark and I just turned to
see Jeff emerge from the tiny house, still looking a bit drowsy. Still, I was just glad I
didnt have to shout over what sounded like construction equipment at 2:00 AM in the
morning.
Hey Jeff told us, really unaware of how much of a racket he was making
before. So whats the plan?
Well, it turns out youre our only ace in this hole, Jeff, I told him, knowing we
needed him if we were going to find Sarah in this mess. Were heading north, but we
need you to stay in the open and be out in front. Youre the only one Sarah is going to
recognize.
I figured as much, Jeff replied, giving a slight nod. But anyone know where
she might have gone?

Yes, I knew exactly where she had gone as much as I knew how to build a
freaking space station out of crayons. Seriously? I figured we should quit wasting time
just talking endlessly about it and just keep on going.
Let's stick with the towns, I told Jeff and Mark. Just follow that path and we'll
deal with anyone that looks competent enough to talk. Thats pretty much the only
freaking lead we can work with right now. Chances are Sarah did exactly what we did to
try and find the sun gem. Walk the path to the middle of nowhere and ask without making
it too obvious. Might help if you keep your ears open to hear anything about Fluxeons. I
know humans are rare around here and any mention of that could be traced to her.
I still think this is gonna to be freakin impossible, Mark told me, pessimistic as
usual, If Sarah got captured, it's because she was goin for the sun gem. But, if she never
made it there, then we have to get it ourselves, and hope news of that spreads. Maybe
then shell know it was us.
This was one ingenious plan of suicide after another. I swore, we were going to
get in deep crap doing this, but there wasnt much else we could do. Heck, I just wanted
to get Sarah out of here, the sun gem could wait. I didn't even mind walking with a big,
fat target on my back with these three gems in my bag.
Well see what happens when we get there. Jeff told the two of us, just figuring
we might as well do it. Come on.
With Jeff in the lead, he was the more intimidating one out of the three of us and
the first one Sarah would spot. Besides, I didnt feel like talking to any more psychotic
Paltarian citizens. Ive met more than I wanted to here. If Jeff wanted to be chatty with
them, by all means, blab away. I could only dumb down my conversational skills so low.
After grabbing all of our stuff and heading out of there, we had passed through
more hot savannah fields, with a tree every now and then and some really freaking weird
animals that I was glad we didnt have on Earth. Thankfully, most of them didn't see
hostile, although there were a few that I was pretty sure we did well not to piss them off. I
never would have gotten used to seeing these things. Still though, there was nothing here
that would have screwed up Sarah from going on. She had freaking necromancer powers,
so she should have easily been able to keep on going. And as we kept walking, I was
really guzzling down the water and was beginning to think I might need a refill soon.
There were more Florza towns that we dodged for very good reasons. Also,
similar to the freaky ladybug creature I saw in Springside, there were also humanoid
fireflies around that were more active at night. Truthfully, none of them looked like
anything Sarah would have bothered with. We didn't talk to them and they didn't talk to
us.
We maybe walked for another two days, taking refuge in a vacant cave and a
hollowed out oak tree until we came across one heck of a city.
There were stone buildings and towers spanning for miles. Still, the city was
nicely fortified with a white stone wall that went up about a hundred feet, and there were
guards walking around on the wall surrounding the whole place, most of them with bat
wings and freaky, fanged faces. From what we could see beyond the gate, the stone
streets were pretty large, but the amount of actual foot traffic was very light, having
mostly empty streets here and there. Meanwhile, the citizens walking around were
something else. Again, another Halloween freak show like what we saw in Lashira, but
much, much worse, without a single bloody human in the world. Weird rhino people,

walking cactuses, man-insects, and loads of other freaks I wouldnt miss anytime soon.
Thankfully, I didnt see anyone that looked close to a Lilyara, Draco, or a Pixie. While
before we stuck out like sore thumbs as Fluxeons, we were freaks too now, not like it
really made it that much better.
Dude we are not gonna find Sarah in here, Mark moaned, pretty
overwhelmed by the size of the city we had to face. The place is a zoo. She might not
have even come this way.
Mark, for once stop stating the freaking obvious. I told him, since I already
knew this was going to be incredibly hard. If we
I came up short with trying to find a solution. Chances were really good Sarah
stopped in here because you really couldn't miss the place. After that, something
happened, whether she actually left this place or not was a different story. I couldnt even
tell.
Okay, hold on, I told Mark and Jeff, thinking about this for a minute. Fluxeons
usually never make it this far. I remember having that kind of reaction in Springside. If
Sarah walked in here, she must have attracted attention. Hey, either she was arrested by
the guards, or something, but someone would have noticed.
So what are you saying? Jeff asked, wondering what my solution was.
It was really hard to spell it all out, but after thinking it over a bit more, I thought
of an idea.
Lets just go in there and act like weve been this way for our whole lives, I told
Jeff, thinking this might actually work. Well go find a bar and talk about Fluxeons.
We'll act like we're fighting over who gets to transform her. Maybe well get a
conversation going, someone could talk about one of them arriving in town, and it will
lead us to Sarah. Just casual gossip.
Well hey, it could work, Mark replied, just giving a shrug and a smile. Or,
ya know, maybe theyll actually realize that ya came from Springside, Im from
Autumnvale, and that considerin were from other countries, were not gonna be allowed
in there.
I sighed pretty hard, putting the palm of my hand in my face. It was like all a
trap. We couldnt even go from place to place without raising commotion about it and
getting incarcerated. Meanwhile, I kept watch on the gate, and yup, no Pixies or Lilyaras
at first sight, and I really didnt feel like sitting around here waiting eons for one to show
up when that could likely never happen.
Lets just do it, Jeff told the two of us. Weve wasted enough time as it is. If
we have to fight our way in, then fine.
I shrugged, and we headed toward the entrance. I was just thinking of trying
anything, because right now, things looked hopeless enough to go completely crazy over
it. We walked closer to the arched entrance, and man, I couldnt believe how fast things
got totally screwed up.
HALT! An annoyingly loud voice blasted out above us.
Had this been a video game, I would have loved to just arrive at the Mission
Failed: Game Over screen after throwing the controller down, screaming about how
stupid and unrealistic the game was, and just painfully restart all over again from a
previous save file or rage quit and do something else. But yet, we didnt even have the
luxury of doing that.

Four guards had jumped off the wall, spread their bat-like wings, and flew down
toward us. I could tell this wasnt a welcoming committee, not like I would have wanted
one anyway. Besides the wings, their skin was dark brown and very furry, and they had
sharp, white fangs. Meanwhile, in their hands were some really nice and freshly
sharpened swords. Nothing like bat-guards and freaky bat faces to usher in that homey
feeling of feeling welcome in this joint. And all of them were dressed in crimson plate
armor from head to toe, while their faces were exposed. After looking at those freaky bat
faces, they really should have covered those with armor too. Mask, helmet, clown
makeup, geez, anything would have been fine. It was the first time I was looking at a half
man, half bat face before, and to all the people back on Earth, they seriously werent
missing out on anything worth looking at.
And then, one of them got up in my face, and started talking in some fast, really
wild and out of whack French accent.
What is your business in Horizon City? He asked me very quickly. Speak!
"Yeah, who are you and why do you want to know?" I asked him, figuring this
chump had no business knowing anyway.
"I'm Xirano, the Guardian-Captain Lepakko of Horizon City," This Xirano guy
told us, puffing himself up on his high horse. "You would do well to remember that!"
Uh huh. Sorry, but considering my memory bank was already filled with phone
numbers, driving directions, TV show schedules, how to beat final boss Commander
Killian in Pledge of Steel, and truckloads of other stuff, I didn't have the care to really
take memorizing this moron's name and rank to heart. But in the meantime, I figured I'd
try to use this meaningless conversation to some degree.
"Name's Skylily," I told him... dying a bit inside calling myself that. "Were trying
to find a Fluxeon that was passing through here, I spoke with a smile, speaking honestly
before lying my head off. You see, Im after her because I think shed make a decent
Lilyara, but goofus and doofus right here want to turn her into one of them.
Ha, ha, Mark laughed, going along with it as he flew in front of my face. Oh,
come on, ya already know there are enough Lilyaras in Springside, why the heck do ya
need another one?
Shut your trap, pixie, I told him, hoping these Lepakko bat goons would buy it.
We agreed that whoever won the dice roll once we found her would get to decide what
she became. You seriously didn't forget all that, did you?
In the meantime, Jeff said nothing. Yeah, I could see why he was more into sports
than acting. But I guess if he wanted to act like a dim-witted, selectively social Draco, he
was doing a fantastic job.
And then, I turned back to the guard as Mark buzzed out of the way. This
Lepakko looked stupid enough, so maybe this was working.
Ha, ha, I laughed at him, trying to look slightly embarrassed when really I could
care less about what this moron was thinking. Okay, so have you seen a Fluxeon around
here lately? We just want to know.
And why would I tell you that? He asked me, getting in my face again with his
fangs and annoying beady eyes.
Boy, I was quickly getting tired of furry bat face man doing that again and again.
Next time he did that, he was going to really wish he had been wearing a helmet and a
face guard after all.

Look, we just need to know where she went, thats all, I told Xirano, trying to
keep it a secret. We've been tracking her for a while now. Come on, we could really use
another dancer for Floranta. Fluxeons like these dont come around often enough. If she's
not here, then for crap's sake, just tell us so we can just move on and keep looking for
her.
He was silent for a moment, stepped back, and then looked at me with an arrogant
smirk. Ugh, as if I thought I couldn't hate his bat face even more. But then again, this was
Paltaria after all, the land of stupid reactions and meaningless conversations. I really
shouldnt have been surprised seeing this yet again.
Im afraid youre already too late! Xirano laughed at me, really asking for my
fist impression to be a permanent part of his face. Yes, we did have a Fluxeon walk
through these gates a few weeks ago. Had the three of you been faster, you would have
had her. But now she is a servant of Alzara. Youre too late, so off with you oafs!
Hold on a minute, I told him, still not satisfied with that. Who the heck is
Alzara?
You mean you dont know? He asked me with mocking surprise, begging to
have a bowling ball shoved down his throat. What a fool! Alzara is the wife of Loserra,
and she is the queen of Summerfield! How stupid must you be not to know that? Are you
daft!? Your prized Fluxeon is now an Azurewing Butterfly retainer for Her Majesty,
which means youre out of luck, you foolish Lilyara. Now be gone, you have no business
here!
I swore, I was going to find him as he slept and unload a fifty-pound bag of
starving, psychotic fire ants on his face.
In the meantime, I seriously couldn't believe this Alzara was married to freaking
Loserra, of all people I had to deal with. I really didn't feel like dealing with more
heinously annoying butterflies.
He turned around and flew off again, along with his three other butt buddies.
Considering how few Fluxeons came around here, what he said about Sarah was probably
true. Everything else was jumping jackcrap.
Sarah was probably stuck in that city as Alzaras slave, which meant two things.
We were going to have to find a way to bail her out of there, and she probably didnt have
the sun gem yet. Still couldnt blame her, because I might have gotten myself stuck in this
mess by going in there. For now, I didn't even think about the sun gem, I was more
focused on getting Sarah out of here.
Jeff, Mark and I turned around, and headed back until we were some distance
away, looking back at the massively fortified city. This sincerely sucked, but at least we
had some idea where she was.
"Now what are we gonna do?" Mark asked, thinking this was going nowhere fast.
I wasn't so sure, but at least we knew what to look for. As for Sarah, I couldn't
believe she was one of these Azurewing Butterflies the guard talked about. And then
again, I figured I shouldn't be surprised considering poking around with butterflies was
one of the first things she did upon arriving on this psychotic planet.
I figured we just needed to find them, scream out Sarahs name, shed see Jeff,
and bam, there we go. But Jeff was right, something did sound a little too easy about that.

Maybe lets take a look around the city, I told him, knowing it would be the first
step of the plan. Yeah, we may not be able to see much of whats going on, but hey,
maybe well find something like an entry point.
Ha, ha, like what? Mark laughed at me.
Well, maybe a storm drain or sewer grate, I told him, thinking it out. You
know, something Jeff here wouldnt have too much trouble breaking open.
And then, Jeff looked at me like I had gone completely crazy.
Youre thinking of sneaking in? Jeff asked me, something that should have been
apparently obvious this entire time.
No, I planned on going up to these bat freaks and then try asking politely,
because that worked so well the first time we tried it, I told him sarcastically, finding
that almost hilarious, Yes, what do you think? How else are we going to get her out of
there?
I already knew it was going to be a royal pain to get in there and find her, but it
was a reality we were going to have to face. Meanwhile, I began walking around the
perimeter of the city, starting with the right side, and Jeff and Mark started to follow me,
wondering where the heck this was going. As I walked around, I saw they had this place
pretty walled up nice and tightly.
As we got to the right side, I had seen they placed this city right next to a pretty
thick rainforest. Thing was, we couldnt see anything past ten feet of us in there, being so
full of green trees and plants. Not a problem though, we wouldnt get lost in there as long
as we kept watch on the wall. Maybe wed find something these guys missed.
As we trudged through the endless amounts of plants, stepping on every freaking
twig there was in this place, I still wasnt finding anything. The only thing here was a
small river off to our right side, which was actually a little helpful in keeping us from
trudging recklessly further into the rainforest. Last thing I wanted was to get lost in there.
That seriously would have been the nightmare I really didnt want
We finished going along the side of the wall that I thought would actually have
some kind of orifice to go through. Absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, when we got around
to the other side, I noticed another back entrance, but with more of those stupid Lepakko
bat guards.
Were definitely not getting in here without trouble, Mark told the two of us,
seeing the situation as pretty hopeless.
You know, if Ken here had wings, we probably could fly in there, Jeff told me,
looking at me like I was to blame.
And be even more obvious about getting caught, I corrected him, knowing the
guards would notice it. Perfect plan, champ.
If these Lepakko bat guards werent well bats, fine, Id be willing to accept
the fact Mark and Jeff could do this by themselves a whole lot better than having a
flightless Lilyara tag along. But flying over the wall would result in the fun of everyone
noticing it and respond by going into full attack freak mode.
Let's just wait for it to get dark, I told Mark and Jeff. Then we sneak through
the back gate by melting down the bars. We just need a hole large enough to climb
through. Knowing how ridiculously big Loserra is, Alzara should be in an obvious place
that could fit her fat, butterfly carcass. Sarah probably wont be too far off, we just need
to find her sleeping.

Man, at a time like this, I should have paid more attention to the cheap jewelry
she was wearing before this disaster happened. Hopefully, there werent many of these
blasted Azurewing Butterflies hanging around here.
Fine enough, Jeff told me. I dont see how else were going to do this.
It wasn't much, but scraping the bottom of the crap barrel for ideas was better than
nothing.
Chapter 10 The Night Pursuit
I loved it. Rain. I couldnt believe it, for once I actually got lucky. Less annoying
bat guards hanging around on lookout with the rain hammering down on their furry freak
faces, it was ultra dark and the visibility was crap, and theyd need to be able to see us
clearly in order to tell we weren't normal citizens, which I imagined that as half-bat
clowns, they'd better be freaking blind to at least some degree.
I practically welcomed this rain with open arms, letting it splatter against my face.
It was a great, refreshing feeling, and it was going to make this mission fifty times easier.
Finally, a little bit of luck for once!
I hate this weather, Jeff told me after a rumble of thunder, really not seeing the
beauty of having this for what we planned on doing.
"Yeah, I'm not crazy about it either," Mark replied, dripping wet as he flickered
his wings to stay aloft.
Are you kidding me? I asked him, thinking he was nuts. Were in luck, we
actually have a better chance at pulling this off. Less guards, its dark, and no one is going
to notice us well enough to know we dont belong here.
Its cold and wet, He complained again. "My fire won't be as strong and Mark
can't fly as well.
"Well, we'll manage it somehow," I told him, knowing it was just stupid to stand
around and complain about it uselessly.
I lead the way to the back gate. I figured the closer we stayed to the stone wall,
the less chance there was for someone to see us. It was dark, and I couldnt even see the
top of the lookout posts. Easy money.
However, we ran into a whole slew of problems when I turned around the corner
and saw back gate. Three Lepakko bat guards were there keeping watch. Sure, the ones
up on the wall couldn't see us, but these guys sure could. I pulled back around the corner,
knowing the only way we were getting close to that gate was to fight it out.
"Three guards," I told Mark and Jeff. "And as luck would have it, they're on the
ground."
"We fight it out," Jeff replied. "I'll charge in, you two cover me. Let's do this
quickly."
And he didn't even wait a second for us to acknowledge that. Suddenly, he flew in
with his claws while Mark and I were freaking dumbfounded, trying to figure out the best
way to nail these guys. I just quickly got to work on a lightning bolt spell while Mark
began casting something else, surrounding himself with an emerald-colored glow. He
stretched his tiny arms out while a green aura pulsed around him.
Jeff managed to take down the first Lepakko guard like a rag doll meets claws,
but much to his surprise and my own, these bat guards weren't stupid and they sure

weren't slow. After a few seconds of them slugging away at each other, the second guard
swung at Jeff with his sword, and it got brutal right after that. I didn't know where Jeff
got hit, but suddenly he was screaming.
"AAGHH!" Jeff howled in anger and pain.
In relentless fury, he bashed the Lepakko guard with his other arm, but then had to
fall back. I took advantage of that opportunity as Jeff made distance between him and the
guard he just whacked. As the Lepakko stumbled, I unleashed thunderous electric fury
and thrust both of my hands forward, unleashing a forking thunderbolt that jetted toward
the guard and lit up the whole area.
That Lepakko was lit up like a freaking Christmas tree in a supernova. After the
thunderous explosion of white light, his sizzling husk of a body flew backward into the
wall, crumpling into several pieces.
"Enjoy your last breath, mongrels!" The third Lepakko guard laughed, spreading
his bat wings to fly into the fight.
And that was when Mark let loose a whole hurricane of razor-sharp thorns,
blasting the Lepakko with what could only be described as nature's machine gun using
thorns for ammo. By the hundreds, they stuck into the guard's body where he just stood
there in shock as his whole front looked like an acupuncture procedure gone totally
haywire. He struggled and moaned for a moment, tried to continue fighting for a few
seconds, and then keeled over as a corpse.
"Jeff!" Mark called out. "Jeff, are you okay!?"
We rushed over to him, and he sure as heck wasn't. I didn't know where he got the
crazy idea that just charging into those freaks was a thrilling idea, but it seriously cost
him. My only guess was he got a little carried away with ripping Florza to shreds that he
thought these guys were no big deal either. He was twitching in pain, clutching something
that he didn't want to show us.
"Jeff..." Mark told him, hovering above him. "Say somethin'."
He then slowly revealed how they injured him. After moving his other arm out of
the way, Mark and I saw it.
They freaking cut his right hand off...
"H-holy crap..." I gasped.
He was bleeding all over the place really badly, and the water from the rain was
forming a murky pool of blood and water underneath it. All that was left of his arm was a
bleeding stump, and we didn't have a single stupid thing for medical supplies.
"I... thought I said cover me!" Jeff shouted with an angry snarl. "Look at what that
freak did to my arm!"
"Jeff, ya didn't even give us two seconds to react!" Mark argued. "Ya jus' went
berserk! Castin' magic takes a while, ya can't expect us to cover ya that quickly!"
Mark was right, magic stuff is not instant, especially not the more complicated
crap. Jeff was pissed in a way I've never seen him before, and I could understand, but he
had to see this from our point of view too. What he did back there was pretty stupid, but I
didn't want to tell that to his face. Mark and I had to get his anger off of us and more on
them.
"Now... what...?" Jeff growled in anger, looking down toward his severed hand
with a grim look in his draconic face.

"Jeff... Jeff, before you go nuts..." Mark told him, trying to get him to calm down.
"I... I might actually be able to heal that."
Jeff and I were suddenly surprised, but both of us looked at him like we didn't
believe it. Heck, I saw it, Jeff's clawed hand was totally off his body, lying dead in a
bloody puddle. The best freaking surgeon on Earth couldn't fix that up.
"I... didn't really get too many chances to use pixie healin' magic, but..." Mark told
the two of us, "... it's the best shot we have."
"Just do it," Jeff replied, holding out his bleeding arm stump. "I don't care what
you have to do, just heal it if you can!"
"It... might take a while, man, that's a pretty bad cut," Mark replied with the
understatement of the year, feeling a heck of a lot of pressure.
"We don't have time," Jeff told us in a gruff voice, looking around. "More of those
guards could spot us any second and we still need to find Sarah."
This was an abysmal disaster. Mark wasn't even sure if he could heal that kind of
nasty amputation, and meanwhile, we were running out of time. Sooner or later they were
going to wonder why these guards weren't showing up. I wasn't sure how long it would
take Mark to heal Jeff's arm, if it was even possible, but Jeff was right too, those guards
could be down on us.
Mark was already trying a healing spell, surrounding himself and the bleeding
stump with a soft, white glow. However, it didn't look like he was having an easy time
with it.
"Look, I'll go after Sarah," I told the two of them, knowing I had to hurry this
along. "You two try to stay out of sight. Mark..."
"...Yeah?" He asked, looking like he was already working up a sweat with trying
to heal Jeff's cut.
"...Good luck..." I told him.
He nodded, got back to work on Jeff's severed hand, and I then looked back
toward the gate. We were definitely on borrowed time now, and I wasn't sure how well
this was going to turn out at all. When I approached the metal bars, I knew I was going to
need to remove two bars to be able to fit through there. Jeff's fire breath might have been
able to help, but he was definitely in no condition to do that. I was going to have to do
this on my own.
Focusing my magical power into the steel, I made the area where it joined the
lower bar very hot. It was taking a while, but it was beginning to melt. Once one bar was
melted through, I moved onto the next, but it was quickly draining on my energy. Cutting
a whole circle into this freaking gate was like running the New York City marathon in 90
degree weather wearing a freaking mascot costume.
After a long process, I managed to burn a circle through the gate. After that, I was
able to pull the gate section off, revealing a nice hole to move through. I looked back and
Mark was still struggling trying to heal Jeff's wound, but it looked like he was at least
making a bit of progress.
I entered through the hole, and of all things, that freaking giant lily flower on my
back got stuck as I tried to pass through the bars. Again, it took another half a minute to
wrestle it out of there, but eventually it pulled through and I was able to get into the city.
I headed back into the wet cobbled streets, looking for anything big that looked
like a place for Alzara to stay. It had to be somewhere here and be something big enough

to house a massive butterfly. Shouldnt have been too hard considering most of the stone
buildings here werent more than three stories tall.
At first, I tried sneaking through alleyways, until I realized no one really was
around at all. So, I let my guard down for some speed. Meanwhile, I saw plenty of
buildings, but nothing that looked like a temple for Alzara, and I figured she must have
been a VIP around here. They wouldn't have her stuffed in a smelly outhouse if she was
important.
More streets, more rain, but I loved it. I didnt even freaking care I was a blasted
flower myself this time, but still I knew I needed to get this annoyance done. No Lepakko
guards around, a few freaks running around not really thinking I am inane, lets go after
that Lilyara! No one really cared, thats the best part. They probably couldn't see all that
well either or probably didn't think a single Lilyara was going to be a problem.
After having no luck finding the place, I asked a civilian Lintuan based off of a
stork for directions. She was a little awkward in personality, but she pointed me toward
the northeast area of the city and gave me specific directions on how to find the place.
She warned me it was after hours to see Alzara, but I assured her things would be fine.
After heading to the northeast area of the city and following the Lintuan's
directions, thats where I found a large, temple building and a back courtyard that looked
loaded with flowers, all soaked and dripping wet. This seemed to be a likely place, and I
was willing to give it a shot. I just slowly and carefully walked up the stone temple steps,
and found the two large, double doors. I would have tried to find another way it, but man,
it seriously didnt look like there was one. And if there were, I would have had a painful
time trying to find it in this mess.
Slowly, I opened the large, heavy door, slipped inside, making double sure I didnt
snag any large flower petals around me between the two doors, and then stepped inside. I
was still dripping wet and it was pretty dark, but hey, that was good. Last thing I wanted
was for it to be bright, and then find myself getting into trouble. Yeah, I seriously didnt
need that piled on top of everything else.
After turning around and getting a good look at this place, I realized I had a
serious problem on my hands. The temple was pretty large, quiet, and dark. Most of it
was made of marble and stone, with many ordinate stone pillars with butterfly and flower
carvings holding up the highly decorated ceiling. Man, was I getting sick of both of those
things.
I then saw Alzara sleeping all the way in the far back, seeing she was just as big
of a butterfly as Loserra was, with a very similar overly colorful eye-laceration color
scheme on the wings. She had a slimmer build, and again, I could see she had a similar
mage tattoo on her chest, which only told me she was a magic caster and not much else.
Meanwhile, all of her Azurewing Butterfly retainers were sleeping in front of her, all with
gray skin and very bright blue butterfly wings. And painfully so
...there had to be at least a hundred of them.
I winced in frustration and let out a quick, hard, sigh, knowing this was going to
be seriously hard to find which one was Sarah, not wake up anyone else, and get out of
here without getting noticed. Without Jeff for Sarah to recognize, this just got a thousand
times harder, but I couldn't blame him with what just happened. I just needed to get this
done however possible and then get out of here.

I slowly approached the back row, and looked at each one individually, just
sleeping there on a soft, white mat. Each of them had gray-colored skin, two long
antennae, and massive blue butterfly wings. Some of their features were human-like save
for their abdomens, but out of the first four I checked, no similarity to Sarah. Of course, I
only just started. Seriously, this was like searching for a needle in a minefield.
I managed to go through the back row, finding none of them were even close to
what Sarah might have looked like as one of them. Still, I grabbed the guts to plunge
further into unknown territory, checking the second to last row. And heck, I still had eight
more to go. But, I slowly, carefully, and quietly checked every one of them, and still,
nothing like Sarah. Man, if only I had paid more attention to the blasted jewelry she was
wearing. However, when I got to the last two, something happened.
Mmm, One of them said, looking like she was waking up. What is that
fragrant smell?
I quickly moved away from her, knowing she must have been sensing the lilies all
over me. Oh, freaking crap, I knew this was a bad idea. I knew butterflies were naturally
attracted to flowers, so I might as well have been a steak in a kennel full of starving blood
hounds on psychosis medication. I quickly headed down the row, passed two others that
didnt look like Sarah at all, and thats when I got a big surprise.
Suddenly, I turned around and came face to face with a fully awakened
Azurewing Butterfly just standing before me. She just looked at me in awe with her
bright eyes, and I quickly became paranoid.
Youre beautiful She told me with a soft voice, looking at me with
amazement. Who are you?
Well, sure wasn't Sarah. Might as well just go for the crapshoot at this point.
Shh, I didnt mean to wake you up, I whispered to her, hoping she could quickly
help me out and then go back to sleep. I need to find a friend of mine. She was a
Fluxeon a few days ago before she became like you. I just need to see her.
Oh, you meet Jafira, She giggled. She sleeps in the third row all the way on the
left side. Shes a pretty light sleeper. I can see why she's your friend!
Jafira, huh? I was hoping I wasnt making a mistake with this, but I decided to
follow her advice, thinking this might be another renaming thing Paltaria had going on.
And if I was wrong, well, who cared? I was already on a fast losing streak. I quickly
made my way to the third row, hoping I wasnt waking anyone else up, but I knew I was
lying to myself thinking that.
Passing through the rows, I finally managed to reach the third row, and found the
one at the left side. I looked at her, and knew this had to be Sarah. Sure, she was one of
these ridiculous butterflies now, but she still had the face and the hairstyle, despite the
fact her hair was all black now. I quickly kneeled down, shook her a little, and then she
opened her eyes.
Sarah? I asked her, just making sure.
Wha? She asked, still drowsy from sleep. Is it?
Here came the fun part. Telling Sarah what happened to the person she once knew
as Ken. But I didnt care right now, I wanted to get out of here and fast before the whole
freaking town woke up.
"Sarah, talk to me," I told her, shaking her to get her away knowing we needed to
bail out of here.

"Who... how did you know...?" She replied, blinking her eyes to flush out the
drowsiness.
Sarah, its me, Ken, I told her, knowing we needed to speed this up. Wake up,
we need to get out of here.
She definitely got up at the sound of my name. But then, as she looked up and
opened her eyes, she looked at me, and looked totally freaked out. First shock, then
surprise, and then laughter. I felt ridiculous, I just couldnt believe this was how she was
going to catch me like this.
Ken, thats you under all those flowers? She giggled, fully awake now. Ken
Donavan, is that really your voice now? Seriously!? I guess you didnt have such a good
time in Springside after all, did you!?
I could tell she really wasn't too concerned I was trying to make this as quiet as
possible.
Sarah, forget about that, we need to get the heck out of here before the whole
town loses their minds, I told her, knowing this was already a bad enough alarm clock
for everyone else. Mark and Jeff are by the gate. Weve come to bail you out of this
place.
I didn't want to mention Jeff just got his hand sliced off and Mark was struggling
trying to play Dr. Pixie Mark Sullivan M.D. with Jeff's arm. That had to wait.
Well, she got up, and then got to her feet. I had to get to mine, and then she got a
full picture of how bad this Lilyara situation was. She still thought it was funny, but I sure
wasnt laughing. And when she saw I wasnt enjoying it, her expression changed.
Oh, Ken, Im so sorry that happened to you, Sarah told me, not exactly feeling a
whole lot of empathy here as she kept trying to bury her giggles. You look good
though. Really quite handsome.
"Yeah, you really outdid yourself too," I told her as I looked at her giant-sized
blue-colored butterfly wings, still not wanting to talk about Lilyara appearances."We'll
chat it out later."
Hopefully never. Whatever, I just grabbed her hand, got her off of this sleeping
mat of hers, and headed toward the doors to get out of here.
Wait, we cant go quite yet, Sarah warned me, trying to get me to slow down.
What? I asked her, wondering why that was. Why not?
However, before she could answer, I could tell my recent intrusion sure as heck
didnt go unnoticed. Every one of them was waking up now, looking at the two of us, and
then it happened.
Oh, what is disturbing me at this ungodly hour? I heard a deep, feminine
voice behind me.
I turned around and saw Alzara waking up. Now was a great time for a freak-out.
She unfolded her wings, looked up, and immediately saw Sarah and I trying to bail of out
here, with the whole ensemble of Azurewing Butterflies looking right at us and laughing.
They didn't really know what was going on here. And holy crap, I totally forgot I was
carrying the bag with the other three gems in it. I felt like an idiot knowing I was now
running the risk of blowing the entire mission if they found them on me.
You? She asked, looking at me. A Lilyara? What are you doing here?
Thats what they call you? Sarah asked me, whispering even though it was
already freaking too late.

I just turned around, took Sarah by the hand, and just tried to get out of here, even
though the exit was a good hundred meters away. I knew if I stayed here any longer, I
was just going to screw myself up even further. And of course Alzara wasn't the kind of
person that could just understand what pain and humiliation I had to go through to get
here and just let this one slide.
Where are you taking Jafira!? Alzara shouted at me. And who wait just a
moment I know who you are
Come on, not again, don't tell me she had these same stupid psychic powers that
Loserra had. If she really did, then she probably knew how close we were to pulling this
mission off and I knew she was going to make it ten times harder to get out of here.
She knows you already? Sarah asked me as I tried to make a dash for the
door.
Its a long story I told her, hoping I could get the heck out of here in time.
Just keep freaking moving!
I told you, we cant go yet! She shouted, trying to get me to stop.
"And why the heck not!?" I shouted back to her, wondering what could possibly
be important we stay in this obvious deathtrap.
Alzara fully stood up now, wide awake, and seemingly quite pissed off.
Suddenly, with a wave of her two hands, the two massive stone monuments that were
sitting along the back wall were slid along the floor and right in front of the doors, totally
blocking our way out. Crap, I knew that was an obvious sign of some big-time magic
being used. I just winced, turned around, and saw her, quite annoyed. Both Sarah and I
stopped dead in our tracks and knew our only option was to turn around and face her.
Yes, I know who you are, Alzara told me as she got up and started coming
closer, looking at me with a deep stare. Skylily, isnt it? The Lilyara that caused wrath all
over Springside and defeated my husband Loserra, but decided to spare his life instead of
taking his place as the Rainbow Butterfly Guardian, thus breaking the natural order. And
now youve come to rob me of Jafira.
They call you Skylily? Sarah asked me with a wild smile, almost laughing,
Thats hilarious!
Sarah, I dont think you realize how freaking screwed we are right now! I
shouted at her in a hard voice, having a good, sure feeling we were miles away from
getting out of here. Now sure aint the time to be cracking up about it!
I looked back at Alzara, and I couldnt understand why shed really be so
incredibly annoyed at me. Heck, I did spare Loserras life. I mean come on, wasnt that a
good thing for her? Or did even she hate the guys guts as much as I did and just wanted
to see him croak? Now that would be something. Sounded like a real craptastic
relationship to me. I mean it might make more sense if they were both spiders instead.
I know Jafira, her name is actually Sarah, I shouted back to Alzara, knowing
Paltaria had a stupid way about it of slapping their own stupid names on you. If you
want the truth, we were Fluxeons only weeks ago. And were trying to find a way off of
Marsaras... thanks to psychos like you.
Oh, thats quite a cute story, but that's no excuse, Alzara laughed sarcastically.
I know who you two are really. Youre both trying to join the Silver Vanguard by
breaking the seal on the Amethyst Chamber. Dont think the citizens of Paltaria dont
know that three of the four gems are missing.

Give me a break, I thought we had actually done a pretty good job to keep this
whole blasted thing under wraps but somehow she and her stupid husband found out
anyway. No freaking wonder that place had been shut all these years.
Ken Sarah told me, looking pretty tense. She has the sun gem. I tried to tell
you, thats why I knew we couldnt leave yet. My whole plan was to assimilate into this
order and steal it when she wasn't looking.
As I suspected, youre no better than he is, are you, Jafira!? Alzara shouted. I
anticipated your intentions, but despite that, I know you two will still be forced into your
proper place! Youll be made to love me, Jafira. You will be made to worship me with all
your heart and soul. And Skylily, Ill ensure you end up back in Floranta right where you
belong.
"Yeah, good luck with that one," I spat back at her. "Your dear Loserra tried that
and look how far that got him.
Well, it was easy to see why these missions for the Amethyst Chamber flunked
every time. Somehow these two butterfly chumps managed to detect intruders the
millisecond they walked through the door, making it the poster child example of a suicide
mission. It made me wonder why they even let us get this far with this kind of power they
had, but maybe it was so they'd have a constant income of Silver Vanguard dispatching
Fluxeons to this hopeless mission.
You were thinking of betraying us all along, Jafira?! One of the other
Azurewing Butterflies shouted. How could you even think of stealing Alzaras sun
gem!? The Silver Vanguard still means more to you than we do? Even after all we did?
I cant betray you if I never was part of your little butterfly posse in the first
place, Lytia! Sarah shouted back at her.
After that, she looked right back to Alzara, who was just standing there, scowling
back at Sarah.
And Alzara, give it up, Sarah spat right back at her, showing no bit of fear
whatsoever. Holding on to that sun gem even longer will just make you look like an
even bigger loser when you know well get it anyway.
I snickered. I seriously couldnt hold it back. Here we were, thinking Sarah got
caught up in this mess, wanting to be here forever when that was miles away from the
truth. I loved hearing that, and seeing how angry and frustrated Alzara got from it. Life
was now complete. I got to see what a twenty foot tall female butterfly looks like when
she got a fiery, red-hot schizophrenic porcupine shoved up her rear.
Youll never get it, Alzara hissed back at her. While Koslabian, Lotokus, and
even my beloved Loserra lost their gems to the likes of you vile scum, you will not get
the last one from me EVER!
Yeah, scream louder, that always makes everything better. She had some serious
anger management issues there. However, that wasnt the only problem.
Ken, we cant actually kill her, Sarah warned me. Trust me, Id love to
finish her off, but then I become her. I dont know how you managed to stop her husband,
but whatever you did there sure would help right about now.
Oh yeah, as if I didnt have enough of a joyride and pleasure trip doing this the
first time that I was just totally itching to have the fun of doing that all over again, barely
avoiding getting my face incinerated. Great, last thing I wanted was to enjoy yet another
inferno tango with a giant, arrogant butterfly and get a workout trying to drug her up with

sedatives. But hey, at least here, not everything would be burning to cinders around me
like a fireworks show gone totally homicidal. That silver lining was like getting to enjoy
a milkshake before a nuke went off in the toilet you were sitting on.
Maybe I could do this again and having Sarah with me would make this easier,
but we still needed to get the rest of her butterfly posse out of here. There were so
freaking many of them, and they definitely outnumbered us. Summons I immediately
thought of summons. However, something changed when I realized my Nightwind
Summoner rank.
Xenfira, the second highest rank. Seriously!? I couldnt believe I was that high
already. Were the other Nightwind Summoners just sitting on their butts all day,
streaming movies off the internet? Whatever, it was time to bring on the big guns.
Las machodaz Nighwindash scarmonas ci gaznardash vinc somnia
My hands were burning as I began the mantra and the burning sigil appeared in
the ground. However, I knew Alzara wasnt going to just sit there and allow this to
happen. And neither were her little followers.
Stop him! Alzara screamed, pointing at us with her wings fully spread. Neither
of them must escape!
I sure hope you have something planned, Ken, Sarah told me, looking pretty
tense as she busted out with her necromancy skills.
Actually, this time I did. Wasn't a bad plan either. Immediately, Sarah created a
barrier wall of sharp, twisted bones to block their advance. That didnt do too much as
they just flew right over it, still charging right at us. I didn't know what kind of magic or
attacks they were capable of, but hopefully I didn't have to find out the hard way.
However, what really made the difference was
Sectash forodoth Legadevion!
The floor, the roof, and the pillars were totally blown apart as the burning sigil in
the stone exploded into pieces, sending chunks of rock in all directions. I literally saw the
roof blast right off the temple and go flying into the night sky, sending the night air and
rain pouring in. Yeah, I was convinced half the city must have heard that. However,
that that was just the start of the mayhem to come.
Legadevion was a massive, four-legged beast that was half wolf, half bear, and all
mayhem and horror. He had to be at least twenty feet tall, armed with tough brown and
black fur, massive rows of sickle-sharp teeth, and claws that would make even
Viensander wet his crotch. Meanwhile, he even came with two black horns to add more
to the carnage.
Chase away the little ones, I commanded him, knowing I just wanted them out
of my face, not dead. Well take on the fat one.
The growl and roar he made had scared the crap out of Alzaras Azurewing
Butterflies, sending them screaming in fear and flying away as fast as their butterfly
wings could carry them. He tried chasing after them, unable to fly himself, but at least he
nicely managed to get them out of our faces in a very satisfying way. However, by now,
the roof of Alzaras temple was totally destroyed, as if we couldn't have done more to
completely piss her off. As I watched Legadevion disappear in the distance in his pursuit,
I figured wed really have to deal with this problem on our own. Great fun
Youre both wretches! Alzara shouted at us, looking at us furiously while her
temple crumbled to pieces around her and the rain kept coming in. Thieves rogues

knaves nothing but conniving filth! You made a mockery of my husband, stole his
flower gem, come here and try to steal mine, destroy my temple and threaten to destroy
everything else I have! Tell me one good reason why I shouldnt eradicate you both!
Last call, give us the sun gem, Alzara, I told her, knowing she probably wasnt
going to fork it over anyway, but might as well have an excuse for totally wasting her at
the end. Or you find out what really happens when you waste our time and patience.
Here's a hint: it sucks.
NEVER!!! She screamed, her fury quite laughable. Both of you are the worst
traitors Paltaria has ever seen, enough to make me spit! It figures conniving wretches like
the Silver Vanguards would be sending cretins like you to do their malicious bidding!
Definitely looked like I was going to need a lot truckload of acid needles here.
And man, I thought Loserra was bad, but he was nothing compared to the one he got
hitched with. Kept me wondering if their wedding reception had a sadistic torture
carnival theme to it.
I did know how much worse Alzara was than Loserra when it came to magical
spells, but I wasnt going to wait around to find out. She immediately flew into the air to
gain the higher ground, and then began casting some fire-based spell. I knew it right
when I saw the flames coming right out of her hands. Couldnt wait for another grand
opportunity to roast myself yet again.
Since Sokots Acid Needle was fast, I got the first strike. Hit her right in the chest,
and since she was busy casting and needed both of her hands, she didnt pull it out to stop
the exhaustion-inducing venom. It was good for a moment, but when she was ready to
unleash her fiery nightmare upon us, it was going to kill us if we didnt bail out fast
enough.
From her came a fireball even far worse that was Loserra used to turn the Garden
of Rainbows into a napalm disaster. Sarah managed to get the wall of bone another level
of extension, and it blocked the hideously massive fireball upon the impact, rocking the
entire area with an explosion. The only problem was sharp, flaming bones were launched
in every direction, and I had to duck down to avoid getting a random flaming rib or skull
to the face.
As flaming ribs, skulls, femurs and other bones scattered all over the wet floor of
the temple, Sarah and I then separated, and I got behind another one of the temples stone
pillars to use as cover. I found Alzara from behind it, and sniped her out with another
Sokots Acid Needle. I managed to get her in the side, but she quickly managed to rip it
out and the one that had been sitting in her chest. Knowing how angry she was, it would
take a while before she finally decided to give up.
I tired shooting another one at her, but she managed to stop it in midair and just
allowed it to plop helplessly to the ground. She smiled and laughed at me, but that was
quickly changed when Sarah attacked her from the other side.
Bind my enemy with chains of shadow! Sarah called out, harnessing a very
dark magic in her hands. Shadow Stitch!
Black, ethereal cords were launched from Sarahs hands, and right when Alzara
turned around, her black, butterfly body was tied up, leaving her constricted while trying
to fly with the limited use of her wings. Man did that get her angry though. Ive seen
mothers look more admirably at their own kids flunking out of school than the way
Alzara was looking at us after we did that to her.

Villains! She screamed, trying to break her way out of them. How dare you
defy me!
Nothing said I dont care better than another Sokot Acid Needle right to her
butterfly butt. She kept trying to break out, but all that squirming and struggling was only
going to get the poison circulating around even more. I launched another one, hitting her
in the shoulder, trying to hit her all over the place to really get it going around. She was
not liking the fact at all I was taking full and total advantage of her weakened state
much to my satisfaction.
When she managed to break out, our problems only began again. I saw the cords
of darkness break and snap, but what I didnt expect was the sudden inferno that was
launched across the room. Hated to say it, but Sarah wasnt expecting it either. We were
both struck hard by the wall of fire, and it took me diving toward Sarah and unleashing a
quick but weak Water Nova spell to extinguish the fire before it swept over us.
The entire area around me was covered by a quick pulse of water, and it managed
to get to Sarah just in time before the fire that surrounded her burnt her to a crisp. When I
got up off the floor, I was dripping wet, with a few burns. Sarahs state wasnt too much
better than mine, but at least we weren't flaming corpses.
Okay, now shes going to die for that one, Sarah growled angrily, looking back
at Alzara with a vengeance.
No... she's not, I told her, holding her back. She made you enough of a
butterfly already, let's not take it one step further.
Eh, youre right, She told me as she broke away to find cover. Fine, Ill cover
you from Alzaras attacks. Whatever you used to stop Loserra without killing him would
be a major help here.
Already on it. Alzara attempted to strike both of us with a severe blizzard attack,
but I protected the both of us with a wall of fire, stopping her attack the same similar way
I stopped Loserras first strike. Nothing like fooling them a second time. Every
snowflake, hailstone, and ice fragment that was flying wildly in the air simply vaporized
against the flaming heat of the wall of fire. Meanwhile, the cover helped us both get out
of sight.
Using the pillars was the best way to avoid being seen. I got behind another one,
scoped out for Alzara, and then managed to shoot her twice with the Sokot Acid Needle.
Just as she tried to pull the first one out, Sarah caught her off guard and struck her with
another Shadow Stitch. With Alzara held down again, Sarah made sure getting out of the
restraints would be a little harder with another Dark Prison containment spell, forcing her
to stop flying and be stuck on the ground. I saw Alzara was surrounded by a dark,
ethereal cage with wickedly barbed cage bars. While she was held down tight, I got two
more needles on her, hitting her through the bars. Again, it was better she was a nice,
wide target. Made it as easy as hitting an elephant with a baseball.
Nooo! She screamed. I wont let you take it!
Again, and again, I shot another Sokots Acid Needle at her. Now she was seeing
for herself why Loserra screwed up. I think I fired four more into her before I finally felt
that would be enough to put that psychotic butterfly witch down. With a deep breath,
Sarah and I walked up to her, and I saw the same amount of exhaustion in her, only she
had it worse with the necromancy binding spells from Sarah.
Why couldnt you just hand it over? I asked her bluntly.

I wont let you take it! She struggled on, barely able to speak.
I didnt want to waste another minute here, though. Behind her was a whole slew
of treasures, loot, and artifacts, all of which would have been nice to have, but there was
no way we were hauling even a small pile of that out of here. I headed back there to make
a quick sweep of her hoard, and after sweeping through her gold items, jewels, and other
knick-knack offerings, I found the sun gem. Boy was I glad to see this thing. I quickly
stuffed it in the bag with the other three gems and knew we had to move. Chances were
good the guards would be here any second.
Got it, I told Sarah, heading out of there. Lets get the heck out of here.
Good job, She told me. You dont know how sick of this place Ive gotten over
the past week.
We headed out of there, letting poor, miserable Alzara lay there tied up in the
middle of her destroyed temple, letting the rain endlessly hammer all over her. When it
came to getting those statues out of the way, I just decided to blast the whole thing apart.
It took at least four good Thunder Strike spells to break it down, and that involved a lot of
rough casting. Both statues broke apart into little stone chunks and the door collapsed as
well, falling forward and crashing down on the stone stairs outside.. I knew someone was
going to have a really fun time trying to rebuild all this.
Sarah and I stayed pretty close together, trying to get out of there. However, it
wasnt long before a whole bunch of annoying Lepakko bat guards approached us,
looking at us as we left the temple.
Hes still in there! Sarah told them, pointing to the temples interior, Youve
got to stop him!
And what do you know, Sarah learned the magic of lying. Those guards fell for it,
probably because she was an Azurewing Butterfly herself. Regardless, we sure as heck
didnt hang around for them to realize what really happened. I managed to find the way to
the south gate, and we ran like the wind. Meanwhile, I held onto that bag of gems for
dear life. There was no way I was going to lose this thing.
We ran through those rainy streets again, making sure we weren't being followed.
We were getting close and it left me with a pretty good feeling we could do this. Just the
fact we had what we needed to get out of this place forever was enough to make me
throw a fiesta just for the sake we were getting out of here.
When we finally arrived at the south gate after a lot of backtracking, I breathed in
relief when I saw Mark and Jeff were still there. When I first saw them, I wasn't sure how
much progress Mark had made, but when I got closer, I got to see it for myself.
"I... don't believe it." Jeff stated, looking at his restored hand, able to turn it and
flex his claws like nothing happened.
Meanwhile, Mark had passed out. The healing magic he must have used must
have burnt him out completely, and I had no idea how long it would take before he finally
woke up.
Great to see you guys again, Sarah smiled, first at Jeff, and then at Mark. "Is
that... wow, is that little fairy...?"
"Yeah, that's Mark," Jeff replied. "I... owe him one. We don't have time to explain,
we need to go."

Yeah, really," I agreed with Jeff. We got all four of gems, so for sanitys sake,
lets get out of here before they find us. We'll use the Terasphere as soon as we're out of
sight.
We were finally reunited, mission accomplished, and more than ready to get the
heck out of Paltaria. It was finally about time. We rushed like crazy away from Horizon
City like the cops were behind us and we had enough illegal firearms for any terrorist
organization to swoon over.
Chapter 11 Backtrack
We had them. We seriously, freaking had all four of them. Jeff carried Mark's
unconscious pixie body, Jeff himself looked exhausted, I was barely hanging in there, and
Sarah was too ecstatic to be out of there to think that she might be tired. Still, I looked at
all four of these gems glint and shine in the bag I was carrying, and to me, it screamed
freedom and possibility. The stuff we needed to say adios to this mental hospital of pain
and humiliation was right in our freaking hands.
I felt like I needed to check at least a dozen times, but we still had all four gems.
After checking around, we seemed to be in a safe spot for now, but there wasn't a whole
lot of time.
"Okay, let's get out of here fast," I told the others before looking to Jeff. "Tell me
you still have the Terasphere."
"Yeah, hold on," Jeff told me, turning to his carrying sack.
I really didn't know how we managed to pull this off, but I could wonder about it
later. Shortly after, Jeff managed to find the Terasphere, but after pulling it out of the
sack, we noticed something.
It looked... dead. Before, I distinctly remembered it having a nice, rich blue color
with a swirling galaxy in it, but now, it was dull, gray, and had as much life to it as a
snowglobe without water. He even shook it but nothing happened.
"Wha... what happened to it?" Sarah asked in shock. "No... that thing better still
work!"
"I could have sworn that thing would have recharged by now," I distinctly
remembered what Tarka told us. "Tarka said it should have only taken a week!"
"He said at least a week," Sarah corrected me. "But you're right, I thought it
would be ready by now."
I tried to look at it closer, and there was no indication as to why it was like that or
if it would reactivate any time soon. Meanwhile, nothing I had could recharge it, speed it
up, or bring it back to life. Heck, I didn't even know how that thing worked in the first
place. Might as well ask me to fix a supercomputer with staples and paper clips.
"I... don't know what happened," Jeff shook his head. "It never got dropped or
damaged by anything."
"Let's just try it anyway," I told them.
We put our hands on it, including Mark's even though he was out like a light, and
just shut our eyes. I felt nothing, and when it came to sensing magic, it was deader than
roadkill. We must have tried to get the thing to work at least three times, but after a while,
we were just making idiots out of ourselves. Either this thing had an expiration date that

Tarka never told us about, it still needed time to recharge, or something else happened to
it, but in any case, this thing was not going to take us out of here.
"Oh shoot, those guys are probably right behind us!" Sarah exclaimed, looking
back. "If we can't get this thing to work, we've got to run!"
Yeah, how? Except for Sarah, we were exhausted and both Loserra and Alzara
were probably well aware of where we were every second. While I knew Alzara was
probably still out cold for now, that was not going to last for long and who knew how far
these loonies were willing to go to keep that Chamber locked.
"Let's just find a hiding spot for now," I told them, knowing that was probably the
best we could do even though that was a terrible idea in this joint. "As soon as we're even
just remotely capable of getting around, we bail and find some way off this rock."
"Works for me, but we'd better start thinking of a backup plan if this Terasphere
thing never recharges again," Sarah replied, looking a little anxious
Running back to where we came from wasn't easy though. Most of us had been
totally deprived of sleep and had been running, fighting, and struggling all day long.
Meanwhile, we were the worst of fugitives in all of Paltaria right now, but no one knew
where we really were thanks to all the splitting up we did, and this place wasnt populated
enough to find us. At least no one besides Loserra and Alzara. It all depended on how
well those two got news around and were able to mobilize their psycho soldiers.
I knew that this mission was going to be hard in the first place, but no nightmare
Ive ever had could have prepared me for all this inanity to happen. Why the Silver
Vanguard and the Infernal Legion avoided this madhouse like the plague was
screamingly obvious now. Paltaria used insanity as its defenses, where stupidity and
frustration were so far in abundance that the whole area might as well have been under
international military quarantine. This was not a place worth hassling with.
All along the way, we tried to spot anything that might provide some cover. We
even went off the main road and took other rural roads just to keep under cover.
"We're so lost..." Sarah moaned, having no idea where we were. "How are we
supposed to get out of here if the Terasphere is dead?"
Awesome question, because I really didn't know the answer to that one. I kept
watching it, hoping maybe it was just recharging, but it didn't even look like it was
gradually coming back to life.
We'll find a way out, I told her, still walking on as I held the bag of gems
around my shoulder. Heck, we got this far, didn't we?
This really wasnt worth it Sarah continued, looking frustrated. Were not
even sure if the Silver Vanguard or the Amethyst Chamber will have something that could
help us get back home.
Oh man, dont even go there. Seriously, that was the worst pessimism I had heard
all month. I was dead-tired, I had been nearly burnt, frozen, stabbed, and zapped to death
while I was here, and the last thing I wanted to hear was it was for nothing.
Geez, for all our sake, dont be a skeptic about this, I told her, thinking Id
probably go insane if that was the case. We actually know some magic, and chances are
the people who tried to make Celestial Rifts had no clue what Earth actually looked like,
hence why they screwed up all the time. We, on the other hand, have a much better shot.
Good point, Ken, but it just seems so hard in a way, She continued. Plus, I
was hoping there might be a way for the four of us to change back to the way we were

before. Im honestly not interested in any future with the Silver Vanguard. I just want to
get out of here.
There goes my previous logic out the window, but for once, it was actually nice
being dead wrong. As for changing back, oh, how I would have loved that, but that
seemed like such a distant thing at the moment that I wasn't even caring about right now.
And yeah, I didnt care about the Infernal Legion either. A couple of geeks and freaks is
what probably made that place up. I didnt even want to see what they had there
I find it odd, Jeff told her as he carried Mark in his clawed hands, still
exhausted but at least happy he had his hand back. Sarah, before you looked like you
wanted to stay here, but now it sounds like you hate it more than anything else.
I thought it would be better than this, Sarah sighed, looking downcast., I was
so angry about that stupid trip to Echo Canyon that a chance to escape it and get out of
Als face was so refreshing at the moment. That and school, along with my stupid parents
who are never satisfied with anything I do. But this... this just sucks.
Okay, she now officially had a valid excuse for her earlier weirdness.
Unfortunately, that didnt exactly fix anything. Meanwhile, I was ready to drop, but I
knew stopping was taking a really big risk. Mark was still totally passed out and Jeff was
barely shambling along. It was so late, and I was exhausted from all the garbage we had
to do all blasted day to get where we were. The bag of gems was feeling heavy, but
certainly not heavy enough to even fathom the idea of dropping it in the middle of
nowhere. I was ready to protect these gems like some snarling, rabid animal. But as for
the pot of water I was carrying earlier, I had already left it behind. Water wasn't exactly a
rarity around here to make that thing worth carrying.
Im tired, man Mark moaned, actually awake now, but probably not for long.
We've got stop somewhere to get some sleep. We're probably a good distance ahead of
anything tryin' to find us.
We sleep and we give up the mission, Jeff told him, still looking tired himself.
Were being pursued right now, and the forces of Paltaria know their four gems are
missing.
Not to mention they already knew what we looked like. And I figured Alzara and
Loserra were probably telling everyone where we were so they could get an ambush in.
Heck, we would be lucky if we didn't get attacked right now.
Jeff, if the Terasphere is really dead, we have no idea where we need to go to get
back to Taramas, I reminded him, not feeling up to trying to figure out that kind of
solution right now. I know what youre saying and all, but thing is, were too tired. Let's
find any place that looks like it's been abandoned for years, get sleep there, and have
someone keep watch. And yeah, we trade shifts. Because I know none of us are going to
be able to stay up all night by themselves. If we see anyone, we run.
He didnt say anything, but to him, that sounded really good right now. Because I
could tell he had enough with walking. And the rest of us were ready to collapse. I knew
for sure we wouldn't find a way back in the next hour.
Fine, but were asking for trouble then Jeff replied, finally giving in to the
idea. No lights, we get right in there and keep as quiet as possible. And whoever is
watching better not fall asleep.
Done deal, for cryin out loud, lets jus go, Mark moaned, obviously out of it.

It took a bit of time to find a suitable place after heading down a forgotten local
road, but after about fifteen minutes, we found what appeared to be a long-abandoned
farmstead near a forest. The main farmhouse was a derelict and the nearby barn had
already collapsed years ago. The place was falling apart, but it was probably the last place
anyone trying to find us would end up searching. It was small and only had two rooms,
but we were dead tired now, and no one, not even Jeff, was ready to try and fight off
some much needed sleep. Meanwhile, I was nearly dead with exhaustion. I could barely
even see for crying out loud.
Inside, the place was kind of creepy, as in you could film a great horror movie
without anything for props and with a cheesy storyline. The stone walls were dusty and
stained, the floorboards were loose, the furniture was old and aged, and the windows
were broken. In the dark, the place looked haunted, but we were really too tired to care.
The deal was three of us rest in the bedroom area while the fourth watched the
outside from the window in the kitchen and living room. Sarah offered to go up first since
she was still awake to some degree after having already gotten a few hours of sleep.
Meanwhile, I would come next, then Mark, and then Jeff. After stepping into the creepy
bedroom area of the farmhouse, we got ourselves "comfortable" on the three rickety old
beds they had there. Sarah was up first for watch, while Jeff and Mark headed right into
bed. Funny, Jeff was so adamant about trying to leave this place tonight, and here he was
in less than a minute sleeping like a baby... dragon. Snores and all. Meanwhile, Mark
only needed a pillow and a hand towel to use as a bed.
I took Jeffs bag and figured it would probably be a good idea to hide these gems.
I searched around, and I found a loose spot in the wooden floorboards off in a corner of
the bedroom. I moved it aside, found a nice, empty space next to the stone foundation,
stuffed the bag in, and moved the floorboards back. The bag would probably be wet and
muddy from the rain, but that was nothing. I then moved the bed back and over it. I
seriously was paranoid about those things. But, I was then totally dead tired, and after
nearly collapsing into the old, beat-up bed, I was out like a light, really quickly. Boy, did
that feel nice, and I welcomed the black sleep.
Next thing I felt was a nudge. I felt like I just fallen asleep, but when I looked up,
there was Sarah, now looking really exhausted. I could barely see her in the dark, but I
knew it was her from her shape and her voice. I knew what this meant, and I really wasnt
happy at all it came this fast.
Its been two hours, Ken, She whispered to me, really wanting to head to her
own bed that had been empty for her entire shift. I cant watch any longer, and youre up
anyway.
You're kidding right? I told her with annoyance, still tired. These two hours
felt like nothing.
Sorry, She told me, not knowing what else to do.
Yeah, "sorry," that was a big help. I was not looking forward to this. I slowly and
painfully dragged myself out of that comfortable bed, left the bedroom, and headed into
the creepy kitchen and living room. I then shut the door behind me, as I didn't want to
hear Jeff's snores that loudly anyway. After nearly stumbling my way through the kitchen
in the dark, I found the old, wooden chair Sarah set up in front of the window. Two hours,
man, I couldnt wait until this was over, and I really doubted anything was going to get to
us.

I was still very tired, maybe even worse than how I started. I just quickly plopped
down in the chair and quickly got reminded of that blasted titan-sized flower on my back
when I nearly stumbled on my butt because I didn't realize the chair had a backing to it.
Tired and frustrated, I just turned the chair so the backing was on the left side and not
directly behind me. Way to add insult to injury.
After getting as comfortable as I could in a weathered, old chair as I could, I
looked out the window, and saw nothing but black out there. Great, it was just as
entertaining as watching a TV with the power off. Meanwhile, I looked to the side of the
window sill and saw Sarah had been keeping track of time on a cheap digital watch
someone must have spared. Looked like Jeffs if I remembered correctly. I figured she
got him to take it off, but I was surprised he kept it all this time, especially considering it
would sell better than real estate around here. I checked the numbers, and it was around
2:14 PM, even though I sure knew that wasnt Marsaras time. Itd work as a timer
though. 4:14 PM meant I was done with this crap and it was time to pass the baton of
misery to Mark.
Sit. Stare. Nothing. After checking one side of the house, I looked toward the
other to make sure the coast was clear. Plenty of wildlife sounds out there in the black
abyss of the night, but nothing that would insinuate anyone had found us here. I turned to
the watch, pressed the light-up gleam button, but saw the numbers barely advanced. Man,
I couldnt describe how much this sucked. I looked back at the bedroom door, just itching
for the moment to head back in there.
Thankfully the roof was still intact and we didn't have water all over the rooms,
although there were a few spots where it was damaged and leaking through. My eyes
wandered around, looking at the old furniture, the weathered gray rug, the broken
windows, the dusty stone walls, the broken windows, and the front door that had seen
better days. And I got back to looking out the window like I should have been doing, only
to find out I sure as heck didn't miss out on anything exciting happening out there.
Still, pitch black, even fifteen minutes later. Come on, no one was going to find us
here. This place was a total derelict. Plus Alzara was out like a drunk when we last fought
her and Loserra and his cronies probably had too much traveling to do to catch up to us.
So maybe we were totally safe after all. I got brutally impatient, and each time, the
numbers on Jeffs watch never changed. It was seriously frustrating, and I just wanted to
head back to sleep. And with Jeff snore-growling, I really felt like plopping that pillow on
his face.
Hour in, and I was nearly dead again. My eyes on the black outside the window,
with my elbow on the sill and my chin in my hand. Or more spacing out and looking
around the room again, hearing Jeff snore as I tried to count how many things in this
place would have to be replaced and how I'd have to fix it before it actually looked
respectable. My eyelids felt so heavy, there were times I had to shut them for a few
seconds for a moment of rest, and only then could I open them again. But I tried to snap
out of that sleepy trance, because I knew if Jeff caught me in the morning sleeping on
watch, heck, Id never hear the end of it. I ended up having to stand for a while to make
sure I didn't just sleep in that char.
That second hour felt like death. Tiring death, I dont know how I managed to
endure all that hideous pain, but I managed to make it, slowly pecking away at the time.
Sarah left me on 2:14, and it was now 4:15. I didnt waste another minute, I was freaking

done. Mark was up now. I headed to his tiny pillow bed, and shook the pillow a bit to
wake him up. He moaned a little, but still didnt wake up.
Mark, get up, I told him, wishing he would just get his pixie butt up and going
already. Its your shift.
Mmm He moaned, still freaking in there. Too tired.
So am I, but its your turn, I told him, pulling the small washcloth he used as a
bedsheet off.
Eventually, the lazy pixie came to, but he sure wasnt happy. At this point, I didnt
even care. He slowly and painfully got up with a long drudgery, but he did it.
Hope ya enjoy the bed, He spoke, slowly flying toward the window sill
to begin his watch.
I didnt care if he tried to make me feel guilty, I grabbed the pillow he was
sleeping on, headed back to vacant bed that I had been dreaming about for the last two
hours, and laid down on my stomach. Classic Lilyara sleeping posture. Within less than a
minute, I fell asleep fast. Now, I could actually sleep for the rest of the blasted night and
not have to worry about anything. Man, I couldnt believe all the times I had taken
caffeine drinks for granted after I had that miserable experience in my face.
I was clueless on how many hours passed. Like regular sleep, time just zoned
out, and I really didnt feel for how early or how late it had gotten. Mark would take
watch, then Jeff, and after that, wed get the heck out of here at whatever hour the sun
came up. Simply enough, I didnt need to linger on thinking about it.
I had no clue how much time passed after that. Something about it felt longer than
usual, and while I could have woken up to see what was wrong, the sleep was too
freaking inviting. I was tired from the constant running around, screaming, and fighting
absolutely everything that tried to get my way. So, I kept sleeping on, thinking nothing
was wrong.
Shortly after, I was woken up with another nudge. I figured it would come sooner
or later so we could get going and start part two of the mission. At first, I didnt really
care if it was Sarah or Jeff, I just got up, and was greeted with a really painful surprise.
We had company. Lots of it. The house was mobbed and surrounded with
pursuers from all four regions, even Wintershire, though I thought for sure they wouldn't
have tolerated the heat of Summerfield. It was ridiculous, I couldnt believe they had
gathered and mobilized this much support all across Paltaria just to nail us.
I didn't get it, there was freaking nothing here that would have given us away. It
figured, after getting this close with my unbelievably rotten and abysmal luck, it had to be
that jackass Demetri that I saw first, again giving me another hideous awakening like an
alarm clock from Hell.
"Rise and shine, Skylily," Demetri taunted me. "Told you we'd meet again."
I forced myself to ignore him for the moment, since I figured he was probably
enjoying how much I kept getting pissed off at him. He could go rot while impaled on a
flagpole with a broiling football up his anus for all I cared. What bothered me more than
what was happening was how it even happened in the first place.
I looked into the kitchen and living room to see Mark, surrounded by Lepakkos
and slews of other freaks, but still fast asleep on the window sill. I knew it, he fell asleep
on watch. Jeff was still sleeping in his bed, never getting the wake-up call from Mark,
and Sarah was only just waking up to see the painful surprise. I hated to say it, but I

couldn't blame Mark entirely. He had to have mustered up a heck of a lot of pixie healing
magic to restore Jeff's hand, and without him, Jeff would still be an amputee.
I do say, Demetri chortled at us, especially at me, you did come very close.
Very close indeed. You hold the record for being the closest, but I regret to inform you
that it's only a booby prize. No one has ever gotten all four gem keys off Paltaria to
unlock the Amethyst Chamber, and no one ever will. It was very foolish of you to even
try.
As I imagined Demetri's head being processed by a trash compactor to the
soundtrack of heavy thrash metal music, I was beginning to wonder if we really should
have taken Jeffs advice. I knew he was going to rant all night long about how we
shouldn't have done this, find a different spot to hide out, or whatever. To me, this old
farmhouse should have worked, and if it didn't, I doubted anything would have. Freaking
Loserra and Alzara had a cheap homing beacon on us the entire time and there wasn't a
blasted thing we could do about it. Regardless, we couldn't keep going on for days
without having to stop eventually. I looked to Jeff, and he was waking up, not happy
about what the heck was going on. Still though, we werent totally screwed yet.
I then heard Mark scream as they quickly grabbed him and stuffed him in a
freaking bird cage of all things. Boy, he was awake now, suddenly realizing where he
went wrong. I could tell the moment he woke up, he was swiftly nailed with shock, guilt,
and panic. I was just about to say something when my annoying nemesis suddenly
shouted at my face.
Where are the four gems, Skylily!? Demetri barked at me after realizing I wasn't
paying attention to him, looking pretty impatient. Were not leaving until we have all of
them in our hands.
Fine then, dont leave, I told him with a casual I-don't-give-a-crap shrug as I
laid back on the bed, put my hands on the back of my neck, and crossed my legs in full
relaxation position. Youre not getting them. Pull up a chair, grab a drink, and make your
butt sore. I can do this all day.
Jeff woke up, not exactly pleased to be harassed out of his bed by those annoying
Lepakko jackasses who felt the dire need to get in everyones face every three seconds.
He instinctively shoved one of them away but the others were quick to grab him and hold
him down. If they did to me what they did to Jeff, those tools would have gotten my
entire pillow stuffed in their throat.
Get your hands off me, Jeff growled at them. "Someone tell me what's going
on."
I fell asleep on watch, Jeff, Mark admitted, sitting miserably in his canary cage
of shame. An' bam, they found us. Yeah, ya dont need to say anythin, I screwed up.
Jeff was disappointed, but he couldn't hate Mark for falling asleep on watch. Mark
did, after all, spend every ounce of his energy into pixie magic to heal his hand in a way
that even the best surgeon on Earth couldn't pull off. Again, like Mark, he was brought to
his feet, and his clawed hands were bound with chains.
Take them outside, Demetri ordered the bat guards in his classic dictator voice
of bunny authority. "Search the premises. Destroy it all if you have to. We will find
them."

Hey, ya must be that stupid bunny Ken mentioned earlier, Mark told him, giving
Demetri a nasty look. Screw you, man. Youre not gonna get em. An' lose the monocle,
douche-bag.
They took both of them outside. Jeff was in chains and Mark in his bird cage was
carried out by one of those ungodly annoying Lepakko bat guards from Summerfield,
joining the rest of the massive freak show that was going on out there. All the while,
Demetri looked at Mark in distain. As for the outside, I freaking swore, looking out the
window and the open door, I noticed the obese, orangey horror freaks that had to be the
dreaded Phampkins, among plenty of other Paltaria abominations out there. Such a
massive, ridiculous collection of weird and freaky creatures, all just watching and
seeming to admire our misery, going really out of their way to be punchable.
I could have really used that nuke about now.
Next, they woke up Sarah, and I snickered at the way she kicked one of them right
in the gut and sent him wheezing all over the place. They got pretty aggressive on her
after that, pulling her right out of bed and aggressively holding her down while trying to
tie her up.
Get off of me! She shouted, thrashing her arms and flapping her butterfly
wings, trying to break free in a hardcore struggle. "You touch me again and I'm taking
your face off!"
But, it didnt help that much. She tried to put up a fight, but she didnt get very far
at all with just her bare hands, though I was sure if she had been handed a chainsaw and
SWAT gear, the results would have been a lot more satisfying. There were just way too
many to fight and handle and they were all over us, crowding every square foot in this
already tiny crap shack. Even if Sarah and I mustered every ounce of magic power we
could in a conjurer and necromancer tag team, the spells would have exhausted us before
we even annihilated half of these clown college dropouts.
Tsk, tsk, Demetri remarked, closing his eyes and shaking his head. It is
nothing less than deplorable how both of you abused the trust of Paltaria. While your two
friends the Draco and the Autumn Willow Pixie are no less guilty than vile imps, its you,
Jafira and Skylily, that displease me the most. Both of you, given the rare chance at
comfort and grandeur to serve before the highest powers and authorities of Paltaria, gave
it up for something so menial. Nothing less than preposterous and absurd if I do say
myself.
Well, here's a big, fat who-gives-a-crap to you too, Demetri, I told him, wishing
I had a softball bat to whack off his bunny head right about now. Apparently, despite all
the signs Ive obviously presented to you over and over again, you still epically fail to
understand how much I really dont want to be here right now, despite what you happen
to think is a generous offer. You want the truth? Ill give it to you. This whole freaking
time, the four of us have wanted nothing less than to get the heck off of this asinine
planet of yours. There's your truth, now go and choke on it.
Total. Freaking. Idiot. He just looked at me like I was the worst of the bunch and
made a face before turning around and overseeing the search effort. Still, they dragged
Sarah outside where every idiot in the country was watching. And that really didnt help
anything as we now had more freaks and creeps around us just watching every single
bloody movement we made, all smiling that we had finally been bagged. If theres
anything I hated more than these freaks, it was them getting happy, overconfident, and

the fact they won in the end and there was nothing we could have done about it. The
dumbest of them all starting cheering, and if only my imagination were real, the nuclear
mayhem would have been extreme.
Meanwhile, some idiot Lepakko bat guard from Summerfield was rampaging
through the houses furniture behind us to find the stolen gems, but he still didnt check
the floorboards. The bed being over the loose board was throwing him off completely.
Man oh man, I dont know what little voice in my head told me to hide them under the
floor, but I owed him big time. Hiding in this farmhouse may have been a bust, but at
least that was working in our favor.
Erraaaaa! The Lepakko shrieked in frustration, throwing aside a wooden
drawer that contained nothing but old clothes, sending them flying all over the place.
And to think all the junk he was throwing around that little shack was only going
to bury the real hiding spot. So much stuff was thrown on top of the bed now that I highly
doubted he was going to try moving it. I decided to step out of the bedroom and let him
continue throwing half of the room's furniture around. As I casually walked into the
kitchen, that's when that annoying bunny stalker turned around from his frustrated
searching and got pissed at me.
Where are they, Skylily!? Demetri demanded, wrapping his hideous, fuzzy paw
on my chin to forcefully turn my head to look into his putrid, furry bunny face. If you
dont tell me now, the consequences will be dire. This will be your last warning.
You touch me again with your hand... I warned him, shoving away his godforsaken paw off of my face, ...and I'm ripping it off. If you call me Skylily again, I'm
ripping your tongue off. You can't kill me, stupid. You don't have the guts to do it because
you still think I can become a daft, little dancer of yours because you're too freaking
obsessive compulsive to give it up!
And at long last, he realized he was just wasting his time with me, at least for
now. He looked down, gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and just turned the other way,
stepping outside by the front door. Watching him from the window, I saw he turned to
Loserra, who decided to join the National Paltaria Jumping Jackass Parade today. Loserra
was too big to enter the farmhouse, but I knew it was that same schmuck-puppet just
from one peek through the window at his enormous, eye-stinging wings. Somehow, he
was able to make it all the way here after all and was probably the prime reason why this
pack of morons was able to find us. And man, Demetri looked like he was ready to smash
skulls and snap necks with the look on his bunny face.
Help me out here! I heard Demetri complain to Loserra outside, pointing
angrily at me. He's out of control, and I need him to obey me! And how is it possible that
he should be the Rainbow Butterfly heir!? Him, the Guardian of Springside!? Hes not
with Paltaria, hes with the Silver Vanguard trying to reopen the Amethyst Chamber! And
youve seen him, look at what they tried to do! Look at what he did to you and your wife!
He humiliated you both!!
Man, I was convinced the whining would never stop. Loserra wasn't nearly as
whiny and diaper-babyish as Demetri, but he didn't like the truth behind it either.
"There is work we need to do here," Loserra replied to Demetri, looking a bit like
he wasn't crazy about the Demetri's tantrum either. "We will resolve this, and I appreciate
your concern, Demetri."

Meanwhile, I took a slight look at the Lepakko in the bedroom, finally giving up
after wrecking the whole place to pieces. He was knee-deep in junk thrown all over the
place, and after finally throwing in the towel, he came stamping out into the kitchen and
living room, royally infuriated.
Theyre not in there He told Demetri with an angry growl. And if they hid
them outside the house and somewhere in these fields, it could take days to find the burial
spot. So unless you manage to squeeze it out of your lily friend there, well never get our
hands on them.
Boy was this fun. Laughing my head off was going to have to come later, but
snickering for now was satisfying. Still, I had to think of something before theyd lug me
back to wherever to have the location tortured out of me. And with Loserra being here, I
was going to have to cross off nuclear strike as an assault option once again.
From what it seemed like, they were giving up on trying to find them for now,
which was pretty funny considering they were practically standing on them before. A
whole bunch of them were searching everywhere around the house for burial spots, and
no dice. The Lepakko made a mess of the bedroom and even the kitchen and living room
area was ransacked. Watching through the window, I could tell Demetri had his minions
searching the outside fields, but I knew that was going to be time and energy well-wasted.
Still though, I looked at Demetri from the corner of my eye, knowing that getting him
very frustrated really made him do stupid and amusing things.
One thing I did know was that it was going to be impossible to get the gems out
with all of these clowns here. Wed have to come back later, or theyd see us throwing
open the floorboards. Guess the only way out of this was to accept being captured, get
hauled away from here, escape, and then come back here and wait for all of them to be
gone. Man, and just when we thought we were going to be freaking out of this place, we
get dragged right back in again.
"Of all the-" Demetri started muttering angrily under his breath while attempting
yet another search.
Go ahead and whine all you want, Demetri, I interrupted him, right to his face.
Im not telling you where they are. But in the meantime, you moaning like an old cow is
satisfying, so keep it up.
Thats fine with me, Skylily, He stood up and glared at me with a sinister smile,
now asking for a tongue-ripping. Because we can easily do this another way."
"Really?" I asked with a smile. "Try me."
He then signaled to the other Lepakko bat guards to take me outside. They pulled
me away and I just shrugged, figuring these guys were totally hopeless when it came to
finding the gems. Even the guy slugging away at the drawers was laughably ridiculous.
Instead, they dragged me outside through the front door, stuffed me into the old
wooden chair they had now placed outside, at least being intelligent enough to put the
chair backing off to the side because of the giant lily flower on my back. I really didn't
see how this was going to change anything, but whatever.
"Break him," Demetri commanded to Loserra in an angry tone. "This game ends
now."
And that was when Loserra confronted me. I wasn't too thrilled to see this guy
again.

"What are we going to do with you, Skylily?" Loserra sighed, acting like I was
taking this too far. "Such talent, resourcefulness, and skill, but all put into the wrong
places. Are you going to tell us where you hid the gems, or do we need to discover it by
force?"
"Knock yourself out," I told him, totally avoiding eye contact with him.
I don't know what he did or what kind of spell he suddenly decided to cast, but he
certainly didn't show restraint or hesitation about it. I felt some kind of magical force
trying to peck away at my mind, and I shut my eyes to keep it out, even though I wasn't a
specialist in that kind of magic. I just kept my mind blank, thinking of anything besides
the gems. I was sure it was feeding Loserra a whole lot of crap that probably made no
sense to him at all. I was actually smiling about his attempt, wondering what he must be
thinking of all the modern day Earthly crap thoughts like video games, music concerts,
school, the stupid camp job, and anything else that might have confused him. And then all
of a sudden it just suddenly stopped. I figured he probably just gave up.
"They're underneath the floorboards next to Skylily's bed," He told Demetri.
My heart dropped like a rock when I heard that.
"No way!" I shouted, totally pissed he managed to squeeze that out so easily.
Holy crap, I couldn't believe that! I tried to spring out of the chair to stop him but
the two stupid Lepakko guards quickly shoved me right back down again despite the
struggle. It was totally pointless, there was nothing I could do about it.
"Oh, bravo, Skylily," Demetri snickered. "Almost got away with it."
I was so pissed. I couldn't believe the ridiculous level of magic Loserra had.
What, did he freaking have mind-reading and omnipotence on top of everything else he
had? What kind of mage was he!?
As I had expected, Demetri headed back inside, strutted back into the bedroom
like an arrogant snot, walked up to where my bed was, eagerly slid away the floorboards,
and discovered where I hid the bag. When he came back with the bag with a smile just
asking to be punched, I knew of course, he was going to pull them out, one by one, right
in front of us for the whole blasted audience to see like this was freaking Christmas
morning for him.
"NO!" Sarah shouted, trying to break free to stop him. "That's so unfair!"
Yeah, no kidding. He never would have found them without his buddy Loserra
here to make everything easy for him. We had to face it, this mission was clearly
impossible. The Silver Vanguard was definitely not getting that Amethyst Chamber thing
open ever again. Not unless they practically gave up everything to Paltaria. What a load
of crap. And I imagined that after this incident, they were probably going to lock these
things up even further.
"Oh, so, so close!" Demetri taunted us with a smile, pulling out each gem one by
one and letting us have to bear witness to it. "So, here is Summerfield's... Wintershire's...
Springside's... and Autumnvale's. And what's this thing?"
He then reached in and pulled out the Terasphere, still totally lifeless. He probably
had no idea what it was, but whatever, there was no point in telling him. Too bad it wasn't
a big old bag of anthrax that popped in his face.
"Do you know what this is?" He asked Loserra, showing him the Terasphere.

The big, fat butterfly looked at it more closely, and it seemed he actually did
know. Who was I kidding, somehow that cheat was able to figure out anything and
everything.
"A Silver Vanguard Terasphere," Loserra shook his head. "Had it recharged in
time, these four could have teleported with the gems all the way back to Taramas and we
wouldn't have been able to stop them. It was only one day off from completing the
recharge as well."
One day. So it wasn't totally busted like we thought it was. The irony was just
making me sick inside. This whole mission was going to be for nothing and we could
already forget about trying to get them back. Our only real choice was to just try
wandering again and hope maybe there was some other way of getting what we needed to
go back home would show up. Of course, we needed to escape from this horde of clowns
first. But at that moment, screw it, I wasn't thinking about that. I was going to need at
least a week to just play dead for a while before getting the motivation to try again on
something else.
"That's... too close," Demetri replied with a not-so-happy face, suddenly realizing
just how dang lucky he had gotten out of this. "For a minute, I thought they didn't have
any kind of exit off of Paltaria, so I knew we would have gotten them eventually. But
with this thing..."
"We will need to devise a better way to secure and protect these four gems,"
Loserra concluded. "These four Silver Vanguard prospects were clever, well-coordinated,
well-prepared, and deceptive. They almost succeeded and outfought and outsmarted all
four Paltaria Guardians."
"I never suspected two Fluxeons to be mages," Demetri replied bitterly. "That's
never happened before. The Silver Vanguard must be training even their Fluxeon
prospects for these kinds of missions. They've tried this stunt before but they've definitely
gotten far more coordinated with it."
Yeah, let them believe that, I really didn't care. At this point, it really didn't matter
anyway.
"There is a reason for that," Loserra told Demetri, laying on even more
confidential info neither of them had any business knowing. "Skylily and Jafira both used
Seal Siphoning, a 'Shadowcraft' that allowed them to learn magic at a highly expedited
rate. As you probably already know, the Silver Vanguard punishes the use of all forms of
Shadowcraft with death because of how dangerous it can be in the wrong hands."
"Why am I not surprised about this?" Demetri cynically asked in a condescending
tone, giving Sarah and I a dark stare.
Just keep dumping the salt on the wound, why don't you? At this point, what
exactly were these two clowns and this whole army of morons trying to accomplish? We
were helpless, they had the gems, we had nowhere to turn to if they ratted us out about
the Seal Siphoning, which I knew Demetri would leverage to turn the Silver Vanguard
against us, and we were officially screwed in the most colossal way possible. I really
couldn't even think of anything we still had left to lose here.
"So what happens now, Demetri?" I asked, shrugging like a defeated sap. "You
win. That's it. You're going to kill us now? If so, seriously, at least be quick about it."
I could tell he hadn't ever been put into this kind of spot before. Figured, there
was a first time for everything. I wasn't even going to try to read this guy anymore.

"I've never killed one of my own Lilyaras," Demetri stated, avoiding eye contact
with everyone. "Disciplined? Of course. A few times, actually, especially the new ones
that have trouble adjusting to their new roles. But you, Skylily, are dangerous, deceitful,
and violent."
Well, at least he got that part right after screwing up with so many assumptions
earlier. The whole time I was in Springside, every primary thought was practically about
nuking the stuffing out of the place.
"Thanks, that means so much coming from you," I told him cynically. "So, I guess
this is going to make me your first Lilyara kill? Great, I see that working out real well for
Floranta's future. 'Dance or die' sounds like a great welcoming slogan, what do you
think?"
"It's up to the council to decide what becomes of you and your deplorable
friends," Demetri told me, acting like the blood wouldn't be on his hands. "It's not for me
to choose. If they decide your deaths are the price of the crimes you have done, then so it
shall be."
Beautiful. Couldn't even be quick about this after all.
It wasnt long before he had called over a metal wagon drawn by two hulking
creatures that looked like a cross between an ox and a bear, with furry, hulking bodies
with horns. Meanwhile, the cage on the back had been made with some metal bars that
had a light blackish tint to them, likely made of some mystery metal I had never seen
before. Where they planned on taking us, I really didnt know.
Ya have got to be kiddin me, Mark replied, looking at the wagon from the bird
cage he was locked in. Hey, ya stupid rodent, where exactly do ya plan on takin us?
The names Demetri, you bratty, little pixie, He growled at Mark, annoyed from
his comment. As for the four of you, were taking you back to Horizon City so you can
wait in prison to stand trial. But with the evidence we have and the fact Alzara herself is
the highest overseer in the order, you don't stand a chance.
I really needed to find something to bail us out of this and find a way to stuff a
monster-sized, superglue-covered hand grenade in that annoying bunnys mouth so his
yapping trap would finally stop making noise when his head got blown to bits. Still, I was
rapidly trying to figure out a way out of this. I wasn't even sure what for, but I'd rather be
a fugitive on the run than deal with these deranged roaches.
They swung open the cage door, and quickly threw Mark's bird cage in first, then
Jeff, then me, and lastly, Sarah. And they sure werent gentle about it either. It was then
that Demetri forcefully shut the door, and closed the metal padlock with a dark smile.
They had two of the Summerfield Lepakko bat guards in charge of driving the
wagon, two losers that looked like they couldn't even think for themselves. What was
even worse was these particular two Lepakkos looked even better trained than the other
ones we've dealt with.
Take the little brats away, Demetri told them, strutting away from us with a grin
of dark satisfaction as he caressed the bag of gems. And may the worst days of their past
seem like the best days of their future.
Man, did I hate this guy. As he walked away to head off back into Springside
along with his other spring-laden butt buddies, I had the admirable imaginary thought of
picturing him being shoved into a white-hot wood-chipper that was simultaneously
falling into a boiling volcano of cow turd. Still, I had to forget about him for now and bail

from this stupid mandatory hay ride. I wasn't sure where he was going with the gems, but
I needed to figure it out fast before he got away with them.
As the hulking, heavy metallic wagon moved along, I watched Demetris little
freak show extravaganza disperse, and every one of them headed back to their own
respective landfill area of Paltaria. All except the Summerfield ones, which followed the
bloody wagon as an escort. Great. Now we were going to have to find a way to get rid of
them too. There were a few of those stupid Lepakkos, more annoying Florza that didnt
pose a threat at all, a few cactus humanoids that walked like they had a stick up their butt,
and a few hulking humanoids with gray bodies and rhino heads. Man, I couldnt wait to
get back home.
We should have kept walking Jeff complained. That farmhouse was too
close to the main road.
Come on, man, I whispered to him, still knowing he was right, but figuring just
talking about it wasnt going to do anything. It wouldn't have made a difference, Loserra
and Alzara know everything that goes on in Paltaria at all times and we can't stop them
either. Look, forget about that for now, let's just figure out a way to get out of this thing
and get them back.
Jeff just shrugged, and tried to use a little of his fire breath on the bizarre metal
cage. The little flames nicely coiled around the bars, but they didnt do anything. I felt it
and it didn't even make the metal hot. Still, he tried to keep it going to see if all they
needed was just to be under heat a little longer.
Meanwhile, I tried to use a little fire spell myself, but it still wasnt doing
anything to the bars. All it did was coil around them, warm them up a bit for a few
seconds, but didnt even look like it came close to melting anything. And to make matters
worse, there was some kind of anti-magic barrier around the cage that stopped any kind
of spell from bypassing it. My fire was hitting it and it just splattered against the invisible
barrier. If I tried bigger spells, it was just going to blow up in our faces.
Still, as the two of us did that, the wagon just kept moving on, getting closer and
closer to Horizon. Crap was already loaded on the fan, and us arriving in Horizon would
be them turning it on full blast. I needed this stupid cage open now or wed be royally
screwed.
It aint doin anythin Jeff, Mark told him from his cage, just telling him to give
up.
Neither is this, I replied, just giving up on the fire spell. I swear, they were
expecting us to do this after they realized what I did to the back grate.
Meanwhile, the floor and the ceiling were totally solid metal, so I knew we
werent busting our way out through there either. I had no idea what kind of metal this
was, but holy crap, you could drop it into a steel mill smelter and it wouldn't do a thing. I
then looked at the lock, and I swore that keyhole was the weirdest and most obscure one
Ive ever seen. It looked like some crazy kanji Japanese text character shape. Meanwhile,
like heck Id be able to pick it with no tools and being totally oblivious in picking locks.
I tried to see if I could at least help Mark out of his cage. If he could escape from
his little bird cage, he might be able to fly out between the bars of the bigger cage we
were in thanks to his smaller size. Maybe he could even try and get the keys from
whoever was holding them. Problem was, even his little cage was made of this same
ridiculous metal. I tried melting that and it did nothing.

Well, I was down to summons now. I thought about a whole bunch of them, but
none of them really looked like they could help us getting out of here. We needed really
strong fire, and not the other stuff. Meanwhile, I didnt have that freaking pamphlet
anymore, so I had to try and remember which ones were in there. Now, I knew a Xenfira
could summon quite a lot, but dang, I spent more time looking at the earlier stuff thinking
Id never even get this far yet.
Still, it was kind of doubtful any of the ones I thought of would be able to melt
this cage and have some kind of support to help us fight these freaks. But then, one
suddenly came to mind. Fire I knew I needed some kind of really freaking powerful
fire, and I remembered there was a kind of phoenix summon that only just had a little bit
of detail on her. But dang it, what was her freaking name? I totally forgot it because I
think I only glanced over her description once. The others just wouldnt have a chance at
doing the job. Still, I tried to concentrate.
You okay, Ken? Sarah asked me, giving me an odd look. I hope youre trying
to think of something.
Just give me a minute here, I told her, trying to focus on the name.
And that stupid wagon rolled on, hitting a little ditch every now and then and
kicking the back around like an old, clunky school bus, doing a phenomenal job killing
my concentration. Still, it wasnt coming to me, so I decided to shut my eyes, focus on
what the heck I was reading while back in Lashira, and hope it would come to me.
When it came down to it, it was too freaking long ago for me to remember. I was
really running out of time here. I tried to go for Plan C and figure out who had the keys.
Someone on this wagon had to have them if they wanted to get us out of this thing to be
put into another prison once we got to Horizon. The two Lepakko bat guards in front
were most likely the guys holding it, but they were too far out in front of our cage and
even if we nailed them, we still wouldn't be close enough to grab whatever key they were
carrying.
"Nothing...?" Sarah asked me, beginning to worry I was fresh out of ideas.
"The cage is impossible to break and it's surrounded by some kind of anti-magic
barrier," I whispered to her. "Jeff and I can't melt these bars, so our only last chance is to
fight them the second they open that door to transfer us to the prison. Who cares how
many of them there are."
The others looked at me thinking that was a totally suicidal idea, but it was really
the only one we had left. There was no way we could bust out of this thing.
"But, Ken, that's..." Sarah replied, looking doubtful about that whole idea,
"...that's probably just going to get us killed..."
"Compliance is just going to get us killed anyway," I told her, figuring that was
pretty much the truth here. "If you ask me, I'd rather go down fighting than just wait for
them to reveal how they execute people in this stupid continent. Sorry, Sarah, but I'm not
letting these guys make killing us a spectacle."
The three of them were quiet and I could tell this was something that had trouble
sinking in. I knew if we didn't find a way out of this wagon ride in the next few minutes,
yeah, it was probably going to come down to deciding exactly how we die here.
"I'm in," Mark told me, keeping his voice down. "We already know how they're
gonna judge us. Gotta be over one way or another. If they're jus' gonna kill us, we'll
wreck 'em hard before they do."

"There's no choice here," Jeff replied quietly, looking like he was ready to accept
the reality of the situation and that it was going to mean one heck of a fight. "I'll lead, the
rest of you wipe out as many of them as you can. Make this incident something brutal
they won't ever feel like talking about."
Sarah was quiet for a moment, just thinking about it all. I knew the situation
looked hopeless, but I wasn't just going to sit here and let these jackasses do whatever
they wanted with me.
"Guys, if this doesn't work..." Sarah whispered quietly, beginning to grow tense,
"...I just want to let you know that no matter what happens, the three of you are awesome.
Before, you were just guys that I knew from some crappy job, but you're cool guys to
hang out with."
"I know at least one thing about you thanks to all this," I told her with a smirk.
"You sure make a badass necromancer."
She smiled back, but I knew it wouldn't be long now before we had to unleash all
the fury and mayhem we were capable of. I wasn't sure when and exactly where they
would be yanking us out of this thing, but it was going to be a very bloody fight...
Chapter 13 Unexpected Arrival
As the minutes rolled on, I began trying to work out the best number of crowdcrushing spells I could and the fastest ones I could pump out. Even if we survived, I
wasn't even sure how long that would be for. Paltaria would be out to kill us and I
expected someone to rat on us about the Seal Siphoning stuff so everyone in Taramas
would be out to kill us too. To me, I shoved that aside and just focused on surviving this
however we could. Going home or even wiping off the Lilyara form wasn't on my mind
anymore.
And then suddenly there was another lurch, only this one felt heavier than last
time. I nearly banged my head against the bars, not sure what caused it. The wagon
suddenly stopped dead in the middle of the road and no one knew why. There was a slight
commotion among the wagon escorts, and then suddenly I saw what happened.
One of the hulking bear-ox creatures that had been pulling the wagon had
collapsed and had its head crash into the dirt road face-first. It was breathing heavily, but
I wasn't even sure what exactly was wrong with it. I figured a wagon like this must have
been a heck of a heavy thing to drag around, and there was no telling how old that thing
was.
"Is it sick?" The Lepakko bat coach driver asked, getting up from his seat.
His other schmuck friend got up to take a closer look, but the driver soon
screamed at him.
"Forget about it, go ahead and tell them to send another one!" The driver shouted,
wearing a nasty scowl. "We must keep moving!"
Yeah, nice guy. As ugly as the bear-ox thing was, it looked like this heartless
maggot was just going to dump the poor, old critter off by the side of the path and just
leave it for roadkill. And I knew that would be translating into a lot of extra flies. Still,
the other Lepakko just obeyed the driver and spread his wings and took off, likely
heading to Horizon to go fetch another one to pull the wagon along.

But then, the other bear-ox suddenly jerked a bit and then vomited. A lot. It was
disgusting as sin to see that thing puke what must have been gallons of barf, but I knew
the both of them getting taken out at the same time couldn't have been a coincidence. It
didn't take long before that one passed out and crashed down as well, face-first right into
his own muddy barf while leaving the bat moron looking around in a panic.
And then, just when I didn't suspect it, the other Lepakko that had taken off to
head to Horizon suddenly began to fly like a drunk and then he nose-dived and crashed to
the ground as well, probably doing a number on his face. I had to give that crash... four
and a half stars. Definitely satisfying. Would have been five if the bone snapping and
cracking was a little bit more audible.
I didn't know what was going on, but I was liking it.
"Oh boy, you guys can't see 'em, can ya?" Mark asked, thankful but anxious at the
same time.
"See what?" Sarah asked, trying to spot exactly what was causing this nicely
timed mayhem.
I looked around. There were miles of forest around us with the road cutting
straight through it, but I couldn't see who or what was causing this. And then, whoever
this invisible chaos-inducer was began to lay siege on the following escort. I saw one
cactus freak suddenly start losing control of itself before crashing down to the ground
while one of the rhino monsters stumbled back a few feet before crashing down to the
ground. Once they saw that, the rest of the escort was beginning to panic.
"Show yourself!" The Lepakko driver shouted in anxiety as he drew his sword.
Some flash of green powder went off in his face, and suddenly he was wobbling
around like a drunkard. He suddenly stumbled and fell, thankfully butt-first into the pile
of bear-ox puke. Perfect spot for him.
Doing the math, there was really only one band of creatures that was probably
capable of pulling this kind of thing off.
"Holy crap, you pixies can sure move fast," I told Mark, figuring out what it was.
"...Yup," Mark replied, still looking a little uneasy.
Not sure what his problem was, I thought this was awesome. The group of
Summerfield followers began to run away from the wagon screaming like a bunch of
little kindergarteners trying to get away from a swarm of big, diabolical bees. I watched
them try to get away from the wagon, and they made it a good five hundred feet or so
before another great surprise fired off. Suddenly some kind of booby trap went off and
they were surrounded by a cloud of pink smoke that caused the whole group of them to
pass out. In only a few seconds, they were dropping like flies, and it didn't take long
before they all went down and got a nice dosage of dirt-to-face treatment after smacking
the ground. Rhino freaks, cactus morons, Lepakko, and idiotic Florza all got taken out
like it was nobody's business.
"How dare they entrap my love into a cage!" I heard a melodic female voice cry
out.
I then looked to where the voice was coming from, and yep, there she was,
another Autumn Willow Pixie, leaning over the lock of Mark's cage and totally shocked
at what happened to him. She was just like him, only a foot tall, but her fiery autumncolored hair was longer with a longer skirt of autumn petals surrounding her waist.
"Nice to see ya again too, Syoku," Mark sighed.

Oh, this was just rich. Obviously Mark had left out a few details about his trip
through Autumnvale, but I wasn't complaining because this was more comical to discover
by surprise instead. And here I was thinking every last breathing creature in this nuthouse
continent was out to kill us.
"I was shocked when I found you were gone!" Syoku exclaimed to Mark. "And
then I found out you were just trying to help your friends here."
"So you're not... angry I took the leaf gem?" Mark asked this Syoku pixie.
"What, that?" She laughed, brushing it off. "Ha, I don't care. We steal things from
Lotokus all the time. What do we need a Guardian like him for, we can handle
ourselves!"
"I like you," I told her with a devious smile, finally finding someone to agree with
on this abysmal planet.
Mark just gave me that look, as if maybe we should have traded places. At least
Mark ended up with someone fun. I ended up with two flowerpot sapheads that talked
like they gave up free will for deranged, mindless glee over a century ago.
From the looks of it, Syoku brought a whole battalion of pixies with her. They
managed to grab the key the bat guard driver was carrying and brought it back to the
gated door. They plugged it in, turned it to unlock the door, and while they weren't big or
strong enough to push open the heavy, metal door, I was more than happy to do that
myself.
"We owe you one," Jeff told Syoku, knowing she made the difference between us
walking away alive and us getting gutted in a blaze of glory.
"Not sure how you found us, but thank you!" Sarah exclaimed to Syoku. "They
were going to execute us!"
After helping Mark out of his cage, the four of us stepped out and I was thankful
to finally be out of that metallic deathtrap. Still, as thankful as I was to these pixies, we
were seriously running out of time. Sooner or later, the douchebags at Horizon were
going to notice the wagon never arrived. Either that, or that schmuck Loserra would tell
them, as I could bet he was already seeing what was going on here and getting ready to
respond to it. On top of all that, we needed to figure out where Demetri was taking the
four gems and hopefully get them back. I could only hope he didn't make it too far yet.
"Aww, it was nothing," Syoku replied casually before getting peeved. "Always
happy to help the friends of a fellow pixie, especially this cute, lovable guy."
She then cuddled Mark and gave him such a sweet, sincere kiss. It was the kind of
thing I badly wanted to upload to every social media website for an eternity of laughs and
memories, but I knew Mark would kill me if I did.
"I wasn't expecting to see Demetri and a whole slew of reinforcements," I told
her, knowing that maggot had a knack for catching people off guard.
"I couldn't believe it when that Kanikin actually recruited the help of those filthy
Phampkins to incarcerate one of our own pixies," Syoku told us, looking like she was
ready to become his second worst nemesis. "He promised them hefty rewards if they did!
All Phampkins do is infest, devour everything, multiply, and laugh about it!"
"And they look ungodly as sin," I added.
"Exactly!" Syoku agreed. "I swear, that Kanikin made a big mistake by deciding
to become our enemy!"
Did he ever.

I figured Demetri had gotten really greedy, not realizing that making friends with
some freaks was going to get you on someone else's bad side. Either that, or he didn't do
his homework and never thought Phampkins and Autumn Willow Pixies hated each other.
Whatever, this definitely presented an awesome opportunity.
"Let's go beat the stuffing out of them," I told Syoku, figuring this was a payback
long overdue. "Any idea where he might be?"
"Oh, I wish I knew," Syoku replied, looking back toward the trail. "This was one
of the few spots we could use to keep ourselves hidden to ambush the wagon. Plus that
Loserra butterfly Guardian seems to be able to detect everything."
She had a point, the entire trip was pretty much out in the open and this seemed to
be the only wooded area that offered a place to conceal an ambush. Still, if she didn't
know where Demetri was, that was bad, because he could be anywhere at this point. And
if we didn't find him soon, those gems were gone and we'd never see them again.
"I know where he is," A slightly familiar voice said behind me, breaking a
moment of silence.
Everyone suddenly turned around to see who had said that, and it was one of the
last people I'd ever suspect to run into again.
It was none other than Starflower, the same Lilyara that tricked me, held me at
knifepoint, and dragged my butt all over Floranta to get dropped in front of Demetri and
get changed into this. If there was anyone I could blame besides Demetri for getting
turned into a blasted Lilyara myself, it was her, so I really had no idea why she was here
and I was already on my guard for her to pull a fast one.
"Starflower... you..." I spoke to her, wondering how she even managed to track me
down all this way. "How did you-"
"Just shut it for a minute," She interrupted me. "I went through a lot of trouble to
track you down and follow you here."
Well, that still didn't explain why. But I began to think maybe she realized Syoku
and her band of pixies were ambushing the wagon and decided to tag along with it.
"Demetri made a brutal mistake," She continued. "Shortly after you left, word got
out around Floranta that a Lilyara named 'Skylily' annihilated a Calasalian griffon patrol,
which is something not even ten Kanikin could ever pull off. After they found out, it got
the Calasalians thinking Lilyara were being trained in powerful self-defense magic, and
because of that, they wanted to negotiate a ceasefire. But instead of going along with it,
Demetri personally apologized to them and said he was out to punish the Lilyara that did
that."
Beautiful, I knew exactly where this was going.
"And let me guess," I told her, figuring I could continue the story at this point,
"He basically tossed away a chance for Lilyara to have the freedom be able to explore
outside of Floranta without having the Calasalians kill them."
"Close, it's actually worse than that," Starflower continued. "He even assured the
Calasalians that he never meant to have a Lilyara know magic and that it would never
happen again. So now they're free to hunt us down again if we try to leave Floranta!"
And then I did the math. The real math. I didn't exactly have solid proof, but
something was adding up in a totally different way about this psycho.
"Makes me wonder how Demetri even got close to the Calasalians in the first
place without them attacking him," I told Starflower, thinking it over for a minute and

knowing that didn't make the slightest bit of sense. "In order for that to happen, they'd
have to trust each other with something, and for that to be the case, it's likely they've got
some kind of deal going on. Tell me, does Demetri make a lot of money keeping Lilyara
cooped up in Floranta to keep doing dances for him?"
And with that, Starflower had to take a few steps back, totally speechless for a
moment. As if I didn't think the truth could get any uglier...
"It's... not just the dances he profits from," she told me, shaking her head in
dismay, "it's..."
Yeah, I figured. The singing, the artwork, the acting, anything a Lilyara had
natural talent in was going straight on the market and whatever money that produced
sunk into his pocket. Any Lilyara that tried to run away or seek refuge somewhere else in
Springside, he just had the Calasalians wipe them out so they'd be pressured to stay in
Floranta. Just wow. It takes a special kind of jackass to do something like that.
"So basically every Lilyara is his slave," I concluded, figuring that was a solid
way to put it. "And right now that schmuck is walking around with the four keys to
unlock the Amethyst Chamber that is rumored to hold more power than anyone could
comprehend. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a real problem."
"That's probably why he had the four of you sent to Horizon!" Starflower
exclaimed. "He deliberately organized all the Paltaria Guardians to go there to decide
judgment on you four while he ran away with the gems!"
Just when I thought it wasn't physically possible to hate this guy even more, life
finds a way. He stood to gain a lot if he pulled this off, but he was making enemies very,
very quickly.
"That monster!" Starflower screamed in anger. "I don't want to know how many
Lilyaras have gotten killed because of that maniac's greed!"
"Well, this is just great," Syoku shrugged, shaking her head. "Now how are we
going to decide who gets to smash his head in?"
I figured we could hang him like a piata and everyone could get a chance to
whack him. I believed in equal opportunity for everyone regardless of race, color,
ethnicity, and religion.
"We can work that out later," Sarah told everyone, trying to get us focused back
on what we needed to do. "He's carrying a Terasphere with those gems, which will take
him instantly to Taramas if it recharges while he has it. Loserra said that thing had only
about a day to recharge. If that happens, we have no chance of being able to catch up to
him."
"He's heading back to Floranta," Starflower told us, making it clear we needed to
move. "I know my way well around that city, but it could get difficult if he goes deep into
hiding. He's got a lot of friends that don't know the truth about him and they probably
don't know what he's up to."
Problem was that if he unlocked that Amethyst Chamber and there was enough in
there to make him some kind of deranged bunny demigod, he wouldn't even need friends.
He'd just have subjects and he'd probably force them to build him a shrine.
"We need to hurry," Starflower continued with a sense of urgency. "I know of a
direct route from here to Floranta in Springside. It'll be faster than using the trails and it
should buy us enough time to catch up with him, but it might be cutting it close with this
Terasphere recharge. Just follow me."

I decided I had to trust her with this. If there was anyone that was willing to break
Lilyara code besides me, it was her. She certainly didn't care about the whole "no
carrying weapons" rule. But, if she led us in the wrong direction on purpose, well,
without any other leads as to where Demetri was, there really wasn't much else I could do
about it. It was either this or take a very wild guess.
Instead of using the roads, we cut across the hot, grassy fields. She led while the
four of us followed her while Syoku and her posse of fifty or so pixies stayed close
behind. Just from the look on Starflower's face, I could tell she was pissed inside, but still
firm on getting to Floranta on time.
Hours passed and I knew we were cutting it close considering the Terasphere
could be on the verge of completing the recharge and all Demetri had to do was just wait
for the moment. If we didn't find him before that happened, I didn't want to imagine what
he'd be like the next time I saw him.
Eventually, we crossed over the borderline of Summerfield and Springside. It
definitely wasn't hard to distinguish between the two and walking back into this flowersaturated landfill wasn't exactly refreshing. It was like the grass was swallowed up by a
flowerbed and suddenly the temperature warped. I really didn't get this whole freaking
continent.
"Aww, this place doesn't look so bad," Sarah spoke up as she looked around the
flower-plastered countryside, "It's so serene and beautiful."
"And you went with Summerfield instead because... why?" I asked her,
wondering why she figured I'd be the better candidate to get flower-plastered instead of
her.
"Hey, you could have always asked to switch, you know," Sarah told me. "You
were the one that went along with it."
Whatever, back then, I didn't have a clue as to what kind of miseries were tucked
away in each of these places. But in any case, even if I did go to Summerfield instead of
her, getting to Alzara's sun gem by myself wouldn't have been easy. I sure as heck wasn't
going to go the route of becoming one of her butterflies, which wasn't possible anyway
because Alzara was sexist, but in good sense.
We carried on, and I had no idea how much time was left before the Terasphere
recharged. I was sincerely hoping it hadn't turned back on already. As the miles went off,
eventually I started recognizing things. That same river I should have crossed over the
first time appeared, and I figured that's probably what Starflower was following.
And then, we got another nasty surprise.
"No..." Starflower muttered in anxiety.
I looked ahead and I saw it also. Floranta was just coming into view in the
distance, only it didn't take a genius to see there was something wrong. I could see
plumes of smoke coming from it. Most of that annoying pastel-colored city seemed to
still be intact, but obviously something in there was getting fried.
"Is... is it on fire?" Syoku gasped, suddenly getting very anxious.
"Not just that, it's under attack," I replied, knowing multiple smoke clouds meant
there were multiple fires, and that was no accident.
"Come on, we've got to hurry!" Starflower shouted, breaking into a spirit.
We ran after her, and I knew this just seemed a little too convenient for Demetri, if
he was really running off with the gems. Either that, or someone else found out he had

them and he was getting attacked for them. Could have been anyone really, although my
money was on the Calasalians.
As we ran closer, I was wondering just how far Demetri would go for a chance at
asinine levels of power. Would he really burn up Floranta for that?
"Who do you suppose would attack Floranta?" Sarah asked, trying to keep up.
"I'm guessing Calasal," I told her, knowing she probably didn't know too much
about them. "They're a bunch of arrogant snots that like killing trespassers for sport. And
they hate Floranta."
"Guys, if we try to stop 'em an' save that town, those gems are as good as gone,"
Mark told us as he flew besides us, knowing we had next to no time left. "That rabbit
freak ain't gonna wait for us to finish savin' this place. What do ya wanna do?"
On another day, another time, if I really was a genuine scumbag, I would have
actually laughed Floranta was getting pulverized. Heck, my imagination had pictured it
getting nuked at least fifty times. Problem was I knew that city couldn't defend itself all
that well and I still had at least some moral sense. I really couldn't stand that place, but I
knew they didn't deserve to die. Even if I really did have the nuclear warhead to fry it to
the ground, I just didn't have the heart to actually do that.
"Let's... forget about the gems for now and see what we can do to help," I told the
others, knowing that potentially meant giving up everything.
"Wow, Skylily, you certainly have changed," Sarah remarked, totally surprised.
"Those people turned you into a Lilyara and you're still willing to help them at the cost of
being stuck here forever?"
"Let's just hope there's time to do both and not get stuck here for that long," I told
her, really thinking optimistically.
When we got closer, my theory was pretty much confirmed. I recognized the
Calasalians and their overkill griffon riders, all covered in turquoise plate armor.
Meanwhile, the Floranta defenders were a disorganized mess. The bunny Kanikin, as I
noticed, were using magical wands and staves to repel the Calasalian ground infantry and
the griffon riders, but they were outnumbered and I could easily tell hadn't faced a battle
like this in forever. The bluebird and robin Lintuans were using more of the traditional
weaponry of short swords, bows, and spears, and that was even less effective than what
the Kanikin were using. And as for the other Lilyara, let's just say a lifetime of dancing,
drawing, and singing really only prepared them to run their lily-plastered carcasses out of
there like it was Black Friday at the local megamall.
The streets were total anarchy and pandemonium. But something didn't make
sense to me. Why was Calasal attacking now? Was this just a really crappy coincidence or
did Demetri actually have a part in this?
By the time we arrived at the entrance, already a whole slew of Floranta citizens
were evacuating, about three dozen in total. However, out here, there was no cover and
essentially no escape. If Calasal leveled the whole city, picking off these people would be
like stomping ants.
I then recognized Farrel, the brown-furred Kanikin from the blasted Lilyara dance
campus that Springpetal and Cherry Blossom had taken me to. He didn't look like he was
in good shape at all, and it looked like he had barely managed to escort the rest of these
civilians away from the conflict.

"What do we do now!?" One of the female Lilyaras near him asked, looking
panicked. "Why are they doing this!?"
"I... don't know..." Farrel replied, looking shaken. "Whatever happens, don't go
back in there, it's too dangerous. I need to find the others."
As I tried to get closer to him and get an idea of what the situation was like in
there, I had seen the Calasalians were pretty merciless to these people. Some of them
were cut up pretty badly, bruised in other places, burnt in others, and getting shot by
arrows certainly wasn't an uncommon thing either.
"Farrel!" I shouted at him, managing to get his attention as he turned around.
"What's the situation in there?"
"It's better if you stay here," Farrel told me, not recognizing me at first. "Those
Calasalians are extremely treacherous and..."
And then he blinked twice, a bit surprised.
"...Wait a minute!" He exclaimed. "Aren't you Skylily!? You are! Why would
Floranta's prime renegade willingly come back!? Do you even realize how many charges
are against you!?"
"Don't tell me you're seriously thinking of arresting me at a time like this," I told
him, thinking this town would be totally screwed over if they were still thinking that way.
"If you know who I am, then you know I've nailed a couple of these maniacs. Your
choice, if you want to save your town, then put that crap aside and let's try to save as
many people as we can."
"Are you out of your mind!?" Farrel shouted at me. "Lilyaras do not go to war!
Don't you think you've done enough damage already!?"
I seriously couldn't believe this guy was as dippy as he was. I really felt like
literally smacking some sense into him, but just before I even got to approach him, that
was exactly when Starflower grabbed him by the chin and gave him one really cold stare.
"Floranta burns to the ground, and all you care about is some ridiculous Lilyara
code?" Starflower scolded him. "Forget about that for now and stop wasting time and
precious lives."
And then, in the distance, a large, loud explosion went off in the center of town.
Farrel turned to it quickly with a look of sheer panic on his face, and just closed his eyes.
"Calasalian Warlord Xente and his Lieutenant Vrell are leading the attack," Farrel
told me, making that sound like we were going up against some prime evil here.
"Starflower, Xente is a Nightfall Dragon Rider and Vrell is a Voidcaller Warlock, I don't
even think there's any sliver of hope of stopping either of them."
Well, that sounded pretty bad. I looked up at the sky and I could only make out
silhouettes of griffon riders, but if they were being led by a dude riding a dragon, I could
imagine he was no newbie on how to kill people. Still, if Calasal was launching an
annihilation assault like this on Floranta only now, it was simply because they discovered
something that was worth ransacking the entire town for. The four Amethyst Chamber
gems could definitely be that.
"...And this just got on a whole new level of ugly," Syoku remarked, shaking her
head.
Still, I looked up and knew what Mark, Syoku, and the rest of her pixie battalion
were capable of. They took out those annoying Lepakko without too much trouble, but I
understood those griffons might be a bit more challenging.

"Syoku, do you think Mark and the rest of your battalion might be able to ground
a few of those griffon riders?" I asked her, thinking that would at least take care of one
threat. "Those Calasalians aren't expecting pixies, so it's going to catch them off guard."
"Any payment in advance?" Syoku asked jokingly. "Just kidding, we're all over it.
Let's go!"
"I hear ya," Mark nodded, figuring he'd roll with it.
They then took to the skies, and I knew Calasal wouldn't expect to be swarmed by
a virtually invisible threat. However, there were only a few dozen of them and quite a few
griffon riders out there. Meanwhile, that left Jeff, Sarah, Starflower, Farrel, and myself to
figure out how we were going to make our way through the city. We began making our
way through the pink-stone streets and pastel colored houses. As we got in deeper, I could
see a few signs of conflict. Overturned wheelbarrows, broken windows, gaping holes in
the walls of the stone buildings, and other signs of warfare were all over the place.
Meanwhile, it wasn't uncommon to see the body of a Kanikin or a Lintuan lying in the
street.
"This doesn't get any easier," Farrel told the rest of us, pulling out a icy blue wand
with an ice crystal on top. "We've already lost the northern and central districts of town...
and a whole lot of good people."
"Do you know why they attacked?" Starflower asked him as she rushed through
the streets of the city.
"I only have suspicions..." Farrel replied, looking concerned. "Demetri arrived
back in town with the... visitors that had helped him retrieve the four Guardian gems. I
don't know what transpired between then and when the first Calasalian strike, but I have a
feeling the two are related. Calasal may be after the four gems themselves or they have a
vendetta with someone Demetri recruited."
As we headed deep into the city, I could already see where the real mayhem was
happening. I had to admit, those few Kanikin and Lintuans were fighting hard, but the
Calasal soldiers were relentless. Two of the Calasal soldiers were in front of us, distracted
with a fight going on between them and two robin Lintuans and a black Kanikin.
"Take the one on the right," I told Sarah, already preparing an impaling icicle
spell. "And don't miss."
"As if I knew how," Sarah replied with a dark smile as her hands flared with
shadows.
Farrel almost looked disgusted at us. Sure, I knew a Conjurer Lilyara and a
Necromancer Azurewing were totally out of place, but he was going to wish he had more
people like us around. When I finished casting, I launched the baseball bat-size icicle
forward like a rocket, and it swiftly impaled the left Calasal foot soldier through his back
and out his chest. He suddenly dropped his long sword and raised his arms in shock as he
crashed to his knees.
His buddy on the right turned around and that was when Sarah unleashed some
really dark and macabre spell at him, looking like a whirlwind of shadows and infernal
darkness. It enveloped the foot soldier, surrounded him violently, and then it just
vanished. I didn't see what happened, but the only thing that remained of him was just
empty armor pieces. Freaking creepy.
Farrel was freaked out a bit at that display, while Starflower simply shrugged it
off.

"You two are obviously quite... skilled, but we are still on the brink of
hopelessness," Farell muttered to us, shaking his head in disbelief. "Floranta has survived
all these centuries only because Calasal allowed it for their own sadistic purposes. So
many centuries of peace have left us unprepared to deal with anything like this."
"How do we draw out their Lieutenant, already?" I asked him in a demanding tone
of voice, trying to get Farrel to stop thinking like a blasted pessimist. "If you're seriously
thinking Floranta is doomed, then at least let's make it as bloody painful on these Calasal
maggots as we possibly can."
"I second that," Jeff added, looking more than ready to tear some people apart
with those dragon claws of his. "Moping solves nothing. If you don't want to fight, then at
least find someone who can lead us to whoever started this."
And that was when Starflower stepped in, giving Farrel a stern look.
"I'll take them through," she told him, knowing he was too sheepish for the job.
"Just focus on getting as many people out of the city as possible."
He just nodded and figured it was probably best not to argue with her. I figured
that was probably a better place for him anyway.
She then motioned for us to follow her, and all too reminiscent of a previous
experience with her, she blazed her way through the city, knowing we could make a
direct line to wherever in town the crap fan had blasted the hardest. We didn't know
where this Xente and Vrell were, but Starflower knew as much as I did that following the
trail of total destruction wasn't such a bad idea...
Chapter 14 - Weapon of the Betrayer
Everything around us was like a flaming train-wreck. The griffon riders in the sky
were swooping down on the Floranta defenders below while others rained down all kinds
of fire magic to set the roofs of the buildings in flames. Calasal foot soldiers were also
raging through the city, but Starflower knew exactly how to move stealthily around them
like she could do it in her sleep.
We weaved our way through another alleyway as we caught sight of another pair
of bluebird Lintuans trying to fight back against two Calasal foot soldiers and another
mounted soldier riding some kind of bird mount that looked like a giant red and black
peacock. As much as it would have been nice to help the Lintuans, there was so much
fighting going on that stopping to engage in everything would take us forever.
I wasn't sure how Mark and Syoku were faring in this mayhem, but I figured it
must have been a slow process. There were so many dozens of griffon riders that were
totally unchallenged in the skies. The Kanikin were trying to shoot them down with
whatever fire, ice, or lightning spells they could, but virtually nothing connected.
The deeper we got into Floranta, the more of a flaming disaster it became. I could
tell we were going into the thick of it when we found entire buildings collapsed and fewer
and fewer Floranta defenders trying to keep the city together as much as possible. From
the looks of it, I had a feeling Calasal had already decimated the northern district of town
and were starting to rip Floranta a new butthole to crap fire from in the city center.
"This is just horrible..." Sarah muttered in shock, seeing Floranta being burnt into
a black, twisted husk building by building.

I had to admit, being a Lilyara was definitely not my thing and I hated what this
town tried to force on me, but seeing it get mercilessly gutted like this was even pissing
me off. From the looks of things, Farrel was right, this city wasn't ready to fight off an
overpowered militarized kingdom like Calasal. I may not have liked Floranta's sappy
style of society and entertainment, but they still had the right to it.
Still, as we tried to evade the Calasal foot soldier squads in the streets and griffon
riders in the skies, it meant having to navigate around smashed pottery, broken benches,
piles of broken building parts, and quite a few dead bodies of Kanikin, Lintuans, and
Lilyara that just couldn't stand up to these maggots. It was sincerely making me sick.
At one point, I knew the route Starflower had intended to take was totally cut off.
She didn't anticipate the building she wanted to dart through to be reduced to a flaming
heap. Trying to think quickly, she tried to improvise an alternate route. She tried to make
her way around the building rubble, into the alleyway, and as luck would have it, we ran
into two more foot soldiers and another douche-bag mounted on yet another giant red and
black peacock mount all geared up with more turquoise-colored, blood-splattered plate
armor. And these three jackasses seemed to have been commissioned on "kill off the
wounded" duty as I saw they had just heartlessly finished off a now slumped-over robin
Lintuan who looked like she had already taken a brutal beating.
"Oh, look at that, more pathetic simpletons to snuff out," The mounted Calasalian
soldier sighed in a snooty feminine voice, flamboyantly flashing her blood-stained spear
in front of us. "Akandal, Xokana, please, dispose of these withering worms posthaste."
"Akandal, at your service, Lady Brutina," The first of the foot soldiers replied
with a bow.
Man, I was just itching to deep-fry these snooty schmuck-puppets. Akandal was
the first to charge with his jagged-edged blade that looked like Lucifer himself forged it
while Xokana, another female Calasalian knight, charged in closely behind him with a
similarly-designed sword. Akandal made the mistake of charging toward Jeff, who looked
like he was just ready for him to make that mistake.
"Suffer well, you dour monster!" Akandal shouted, preparing to strike Jeff with
the sword.
Jeff managed to quickly lurch out of the way, but before he could strike back,
Akandal quickly bashed him in the snout with the sword's hilt. For a minute, Jeff was
stunned, but snarled and quickly and angrily recovered before Akandal could get in
another strike.
Sarah quickly ushered Starflower aside while she took on Xokana. As I could tell,
Xokana had no idea Sarah was a Necromancer and that ignorance sure as heck wasn't
going to help her out of this one. Regardless, Xokana swung viciously at Sarah, just
barely missing by a fraction of an inch as Sarah quickly jumped back. Even just a split
second too late would have meant her neck getting sliced open...
With both of them fighting right in front of me, my options for spells was limited,
so I figured I had to use something that could launch into the air and be directed right
back down. A Thunderstrike spell was one of the few options I had that could do that, so I
decided to go for it, and with some concentration and focus, I held out my hands and they
began crackling with electrical discharge. I couldn't see Brutina's face under her helmet,
but I could tell from her sudden taken-back reaction that she was totally not expecting a
Lilyara conjurer mage.

In the meantime, Akandal managed to strike Jeff with a laceration on his upper
arm, but Jeff was prepared to take the pain in exchange for what he managed to do next.
Like a bullet, Jeff threw his right hand forward and tore his razor-sharp claws right into
Akandal's chest, sinking his nails in deep. With a sudden yelp, he lost his grip on the
sword, but quickly bashed Jeff in the face with his gauntlet fist, which I imagined must
have hurt like crap. Still, Jeff lifted Akandal into the air with the hand that was plunged
into Akandal's gut at the moment, and just as Akandal tried to punch Jeff again, Jeff
quickly reacted and grabbed the gauntleted fist with his other hand. Then, using all of his
might, he crushed it, gauntlet, fist, and all into one very mangled heap of bone, twisted
metal, and sinew, sending Akandal screaming to the high heavens.
At that point, Jeff quickly latched his free hand onto Akandal's helmet and swiftly
ripped it off, revealing what the Calasalians really looked like.
What I saw did not impress me. He had dull-blue skin with yellow almond-shaped
eyes and long, imp-like ears. Meanwhile, he had long, silver-colored hair and quite the
angry scowl on his rounded face.
"What are you looking at, beast!?" Akandal glared at the ferocious Draco.
"My mistake, obviously should have left that on," Jeff remarked at the sight of
Akandal's mug.
Instead, Akandal angrily spat in Jeff's face. Taken back for just a quick moment,
Jeff mustered up his energy, opened his mouth, and deep-roasted Akandal's face at pointblank with a massive, consuming breath of flames. He maybe only had three seconds of
scream time before Jeff used the arm that was half-dug into Akandal's chest and threw his
flaming corpse at the feet of Brutina's diabolically-colored peacock mount.
While Jeff was fighting Akandal, Xokana had taken another swing at Sarah,
missing her head but instead notching her left blue butterfly wing. Thinking quickly,
Sarah grabbed a nearby bent metal rod that had be used for mounting a glow-orb lantern.
Xokana attacked Sarah again, but Sarah quickly countered with the rod, deflecting the
strike before it connect. Then, as Xokana raised her sword again, Sarah quickly held out
her hand and suddenly it was surrounded with shadows. Before Xokana could bring the
blade down to strike, Sarah launched a breath-stealing bolt of shadow, which struck
Xokana in the face, forcing her to stumble back. I could imagine suddenly not being able
to breathe left her stunned for a moment, and I knew Sarah was going to use that to her
advantage.
With more time, Sarah began casting a more vicious spell, and Xokana tried to
quickly charge before she got the chance to unleash it. However, from Sarah's dark,
shadowy hands come forward of laughing, flaming skull of anarchy that rocketed toward
Xokana like a comet with red and black fire in its mouth, eyes, and blazing in the back of
its head. As the doom skull exploded against her, Xokana was thrown onto her back and
was suddenly engulfed with infernal flames. She writhed in pain, trying to get back on
her feet, but the dark fire had overtaken her, leaving nothing but a flaming husk of armor.
But then, in those last moments, seeing as how I had been casting for a while,
Sarah and Jeff stepped aside, leaving Brutina in the open.
"Never..." She hissed. "...you're the renegade Lilyara, aren't you!?"
"That's right," I smiled deviously. "Skylily. And now you get to tell all your dead
friends about it."

She quickly tried to react and make the last-ditch effort to charge with her
oversized peacock and her giant spear in full ramming position, but I let loose the
Thunderstrike spell I had been preparing the whole fight long. Jagged, blazing-white
bolts and forks of blinding lightning and thunder surged from my hands and slammed
into her like a subway train at max speed, spraying electrical discharge in all directions.
One of them, I wasn't sure if it was her or the stupid peacock, screamed like a freaking
banshee on fire, but the end result was both of them being electrocuted to oblivion in a
blinding electrical explosion which reduced their remains to nothing more than a bunch
of highly electrically charged stray plates of armor and sizzling bones.
As the three of us needed a breather, I could tell Starflower, who had been
watching the whole battle-spree just a few feet away, wasn't expecting that level of
carnage.
"That... that was a Senior Stormblade Knight," Starflower remarked, a bit taken
back. "You wanted to draw out Lieutenant Vrell, congratulations, you sure found an
effective way to do it!"
"I don't see a problem," Jeff replied with a confident growl.
I figured that was the whole intention. In fact, I was beginning to think axing off a
few more of these Knights was beginning to look more like a good idea. And then again,
Jeff's snout was bleeding and Sarah's butterfly wings had gotten hacked a bit. We were
probably better off only fighting if we got spotted.
It was back to the stealthy approach while we let Starflower take the lead again.
Now, we were definitely in the middle of ground zero. This whole area had been
mercilessly decimated by Calasal, and the frequency of griffon riders in the air was pretty
high. Meanwhile, it seemed like every Floranta citizen we came across was dead.
Starflower was on the lookout for Vrell, but still, there were just more regular soldiers
and mounted cavalry.
We managed to dodge getting spotted for another five minutes. Even with
Floranta as a wreck, Starflower definitely knew this city inside out. Then, we came across
one of the largest circular courtyards in Floranta, with five large stone fountains
surrounding one really large central one that depicted stone statues of what were probably
some of the more famous Kanikin, Lilyara, and Lintuans. Now, the place had been pretty
much conquered and overrun by Calasal.
The real shocker was the place was littered with bodies, and not just Floranta
citizens. I realized the army that Demetri had gathered was attacked here, as there were
dead followers from the other regions as well, including lots of smashed and dead
Phampkin, deceased Lepakko, departed Pine Folk, and many others that probably
expected payment from Demetri for helping with the capture and instead got a whole lot
of death instead.
"Sweet mother of mercy, these people were slaughtered," Sarah gasped quietly,
trying to avoid making noise.
And then I caught sight of the guy that had to be Vrell. He swooped down riding
some kind of giant, raven-like mount that landed in the center of the courtyard. When he
dismounted, I could see he was wearing a hooded black and turquoise robe with lots of
white, arcane symbols. He had his hood up, but I could still see the outline of his dark
and brooding face. Meanwhile, he seemed to be holding a large, metallic staff with a
large violet-colored crystal on top.

But in his other hand, I caught sight of the familiar bag we had used to carry the
gems. Crap, if these guys had them, we were definitely going to need to take them down,
and I already knew that kind of fight was going to really get ugly.
"That's got to be him," Starflower whispered, urging us to stay hidden behind the
piles of rubble.
While we kept under cover, one of the other Stormblade Knights approached the
dark warlock guy. Judging from the way they were acting, they seemed pissed off about
something.
"Subcommander Vrell, we looked everywhere," The knight reported to him in a
bitter tone. "There's no sign of the Kanikin or the missing gem."
"He's wounded, so he couldn't have gotten far," Vrell replied, looking annoyed.
"These three are useless until we have all four, so stop standing around and find him!"
Interesting, I wasn't sure if said Kanikin was Demetri or not, but as long as these
Calasal chumps were missing one of the four gems, they weren't seizing control of the
Amethyst Chamber. In any case, from the looks of it, something in Demetri's plan had
gone horribly wrong.
The group of knights and the griffon riders dispersed, probably out to hunt down
and look for the missing gem. Thankfully, Starflower had found us a really decent hiding
spot among the ruins, enough to even conceal two Lilyara and an Azurewing when colors
like these were the worst kind of camouflage in the universe.
Soon enough, it was down to Vrell and just three other knights. Taking a peek at
the sky, even the griffon riders were missing in action and had left the scene probably
thinking the gem was no longer in this area. Thing was, we needed to find it before this
guy did. That, and somehow get the other ones back.
"He doesn't detect us," Jeff whispered. "Nor does he think there's anyone in the
immediate area that's a threat."
"He looks like one heck of a warlock though," I told Jeff, knowing a staff like that
wasn't exactly garage sale material. "I've seen the kind of crap our dear Sarah can do.
Frankly, I really do not want that kind of experience."
"...You've really seen nothing..." Sarah muttered, definitely reinforcing the idea
that dark, deathly magic was not a joke.
I could then slightly hear Vrell and one of the other knights speaking, but I could
only make out a few words. It sounded like they were going over the situation in the city,
and probably working out how they'd dominate the remaining districts they hadn't
flattened already.
And then, totally unexpected, I hear someone sneak up behind us.
When I quickly turned around thinking we were in for a fight, the others followed
suit. I instantly came face to face with Demetri, only he looked awful. His shoulder had
been pierced with an arrow, someone had cut him in the back, and his face looked like it
had been bashed in a few times.
"Don't... make a sound," He whispered, joining us in our hiding spot.
"What... what happened to you?" Starflower asked him with a shocked whisper.
I could tell what just unfolded here was definitely something Demetri did not
want to talk about. He also didn't seem too surprised we escaped either. In fact, he
seemed more surprised we were in the middle of this warzone instead of just leaving it
for dead.

"I... I'm such... a fool," Demetri whispered quietly. "Such a fool to think... I could
outsmart Calasal..."
"Are you kidding!?" Starflower growled, albeit quietly to avoid us getting caught.
"What did you do!?"
"The sheer... power the Chamber contains..." Demetri spoke, still in quite a bit of
pain. "I pretended to promise Calasal a share of the Chamber in exchange... for leaving us
be. I thought... they fell for it. I was going to use its power... to utterly crush them. But
they saw through it... and killed everyone."
I could have smacked him, but that wouldn't have solved anything and it looked
like his crappy planning already blew up in his face. So the whole thing with him
convincing these fascist clowns about trying to capture "Skylily the Lilyara Renegade"
and his friends to get the four Paltaria gems was to get their guard down so he could just
blow them up later. It looked like the whole story said Calasal betrayed him first before
he got the chance to do the same to them.
"You weren't going to give the gems back to the Guardians, were you?" I asked
him, figuring that was pretty much a given at this point. "You just wanted them for
yourself."
"Like you..." Demetri replied, thinking I was no more innocent than he was.
"The only reason why we want access to that place is to go home," I told him the
truth. "Off Marsaras, back to our own home world via Celestial Rift. And yeah, undo the
things you Paltarians changed us into. That was it, trust me, we wouldn't have bothered
you ever again after that."
And yet, somehow, despite all his pain and the surrounding destruction, Demetri
just shook his head and found that a bit funny.
"You truly have no idea... what's in that chamber, Skylily," Demetri chortled, still
struggling to speak through his pain. "Why do you think the Paltaria Guardians went
through so much trouble... to lock it the way they did?"
I did wonder that a bit, and it really seemed like something insane was down in
there. But really, I didn't care if some crazy, god-like power was down in there, I just
wanted what I needed to go back home to Phoenix, Arizona and not be a Lilyara flower
dancer. And I was quite sure Jeff, Sarah, and Mark just wanted to be home and be human
again also.
"Vrell is looking for the Snowflake gem of Wintershire..." Demetri told us,
revealing the gem to us before placing it in my hands. "I used the other three to distract
them, which is the only reason how I survived. This one is the only one he's missing. But
I'm going to trick him... and give him the Terasphere, which almost looks the same from a
distance. I know he's going to kill me anyway. And while he does, it will give you the
chance to target his Doomgrasp Staff. Breaking that is the only way you're going to have
a chance to defeat him..."
What!? Was Demetri seriously thinking of giving his life up for us?
"Why are you doing this, Demetri?" I asked him, wondering if he was trying to
trick us as well.
"The Calasalians used me, Skylily," He told me with a dark smile. "But you... you
are my best chance for vengeance."
He didn't even give any of us a chance to respond. He simply abandoned us and
climbed his way around to head toward Vrell in the courtyard. It was total, sheer suicide,

but there really was nothing else we could do. Vrell had the gems, and the only thing that
was going to get him to let go of them was the icy hand of death.
I was going to need both of my hands to cast magic, and I had nothing on me to
hold the Snowflake Gem. I gave it to Starflower, and then got into position. Meanwhile,
Sarah and Jeff were close behind me, knowing this could rapidly turn into a nightmare at
any moment's notice. I watched Demetri limp into the courtyard, holding the nowrecharged Terasphere in his hands. He was right, that thing did closely look like
Snowflake gem.
"Please!" Demetri cried out to Vrell, grabbing his attention. "Enough... please, no
more of this savage bloodshed...!"
"You!" Vrell shouted, already preparing to strike Demetri down. "Where have you
been hiding!? Where is the last gem!?"
"Right... here..." Demetri smiled, holding the Terasphere before him. "Just take it.
Take it... and do what you may with the gems, but leave Floranta... leave us out of your
campaign of madness. You've killed enough as is..."
I think everyone here knew the chances of Calasal leaving Floranta alone, gems or
no gems, were between nil and nothing. To break that staff, I was going to need
something pretty strong if I wanted to guarantee that thing would be in pieces. I was
wondering why Demetri would have me target Vrell's staff instead of just slamming Vrell
himself with something, but I had a feeling one spell wasn't going to wreck this guy,
whereas his staff might not be able to take a direct blow like this as well. I had already
started preparing the best Flamebolt spell I could conjure up, making sure as much
concentrated impact would be centered on the staff as possible.
"No..." Vrell replied with a sinister tone of amusement, preparing to strike
Demetri down. "Once again, you fool Kanikin simply don't know Calasal well enough.
I'd thought by now you'd learn, but I'll let death cleanse you of your stupidity!"
He then aimed his Doomgrasp Staff at Demetri, which was immediately building
with dark, shadowy bolts of infernal power. I knew that was the moment he was waiting
for. Demetri simply released the Terasphere from his grasp, causing it to roll away from
his feet. He looked down and his last act of defiance was a dark, unsettling smile.
Vrell blasted him in a dark, violent explosion of consuming shadow, but had
completely disregarded everything else around him, including me, launching the
strongest Flamebolt spell I could crank out. It was too late for him to pull back as he
continued annihilating Demetri with his dark magic, and only a split second later, the
Flamebolt spell violently collided with the staff, and the loud, shrieking metallic
detonation was one of the most mind-numbing things I've ever heard. It was even worse
than the sound Al's car made when it slammed head-on into that tree. Much like
Demetri's Wand of Zanix, it suddenly released all of the stored dark energy within it in an
explosion that even blew Vrell back.
But in the meantime, Demetri had been totally eradicated...
I wasn't sure what to think. For the longest time, I hated his guts and his agendas,
but with him gone now, I just pushed away my hatred of him and figured if hard
vengeance was what he wanted as a last request, I'd figured I'd give him at least that.
The shadow explosion where Demetri once stood left virtually nothing left but a
noxious blast mark in the pink cobbled stone courtyard, while Vrell, totally taken by
surprise, quickly got back on his feet in anger and suddenly realized the staff was nothing

but twisted metallic bits now. I could tell... as a warlock, he needed that staff to channel
his dark magic, and without it, he might not be as good at it. Meanwhile, his cohort
knights were already on guard and easily spotted the three of us atop the pile of rubble
considering it really wasn't hard to tell where that blatantly obvious Flamebolt spell came
from. Waving a flashing neon sign with the words "over here!" wouldn't have actually
helped any further.
"Yeah, just as I thought," I told Vrell with a sarcastic smile. "It really does look
better that way."
"Impossible!" Vrell shouted, looking quite thoroughly pissed. "That couldn't have
come from you...!"
Normally, I hated being called "Skylily" with a passion, but lately it had been
racking in the notoriety with just about everyone on the planet. I decided I'd roll with it
for now.
"I'm guessing the name 'Skylily' has been ringing a bell with you guys?" I asked,
toying with this chump. "Yeah, not everyone expects a Lilyara to be capable of magic.
You should have seen that griffon patrol when they found out!"
Boy, did that set him off. Just from judging the reaction of Vrell and his knights,
wow, these guys badly wanted me dead even more than I thought. They weren't expecting
me here at this moment, likely because they thought I was still heading toward Horizon
City to get my head axed off.
"You killed Storm Captain Dartalos!" Vrell roared as he pointed an angry finger at
me. "Slain by a pitiful, dancing Lilyara!"
"He shouldn't feel too bad about it," I smiled wickedly. "After all, Lady Brutina
wasn't expecting it either."
He was dumbfounded for a split second and just totally and completely exploded
with seething rage shortly after that, letting loose a blood-curdling battle scream. Sarah
and Jeff did take a cautious glance at me, thinking I was definitely pushing the stinging
truth button too far, but I figured better he lose his mind in rage and not think cautiously
or thoughtfully when he tried to attack. I wanted murder to be the only thing on his mind
so he'd act without thinking.
"I sure hope you know what you're doing... Skylily," Sarah warned me, thinking I
was playing a really dangerous game. "Jabbing an angry giant with a steak fork isn't
exactly scoring high on strategy points."
"It's me he badly wants," I whispered quickly to her, seeing these guys were
already starting to mobilize. "To him, you might as well be invisible..."
Sarah and Jeff looked at each other, seeing where I was going with this. I was
going to need lay on the taunts, jeers, and mockery if I wanted this psycho's attention on
me at all times.
Sarah and Jeff quickly took flight while as I expected, Vrell focused all his
attention and attacks on me, casting some dark, unholy incantation while concentrating
on me. At that moment, I could see why Demetri wanted me to blast his Doomgrasp Staff
to pieces. Without it, Vrell had to channel all his spells through his hands and words,
which took drastically longer than just using the staff to shoot everything out instantly
like a flamethrower.
"Rip him to shreds!" Vrell commanded his subordinate knights.

His knights charged at me while he continued casting, creating an interesting

scenario. As they drew their jagged swords mid-charge and prepared to attack, it made
me wonder what would happen if Vrell's own knights blocked his line of fire. Regardless,
I began some magic casting of my own, holding out my hands as freezing, glacial energy
gathered in the palms of my hands. All the while, I kept myself between Vrell and his
knights.
Once they got close, I threw my hands up and before them emerged a ten foot tall
rock-hard wall of freezing ice that threw them backward and created a nice barrier
between myself and whatever unholy crap Vrell was preparing. Regardless of how they
handled it, I already got to work on preparing the next assault by getting a fiery
pyrotechnics spell ready.
Unexpectedly, Vrell himself suddenly shadow-phased and appeared behind me,
thinking he could ambush me when I least suspected it. He then quickly launched a
shadow blast spell at my back which slammed into the giant lily flower, which still had a
dark, unholy burning feeling. I turned to unleashed the bombardment of fire pyrotechnics
at him, but as soon as the multiple rounds of miniature fireballs left my hands, he
vanished just as quickly as he appeared. Instead, the fireballs just flew past and slammed
into an already half-collapsed building, breaking an already cracked wall into pieces as
the fire blasts threw embers everywhere like a boozer's fireworks display gone wrong.
"You're too slow!" Vrell's dark voice laughed from all directions.
I had to admit, I wasn't expecting that kind of trick, but it also seemed like Vrell
was hoping he would have had more time to crank out a lethal shadow blast from behind,
but was only able to settle on something small. If he still had his staff when he did that, I
might not have been so lucky...
Vrell's comrade knights found their way around the glacial wall, but in their hasty
charge, they ignored Jeff, who swooped down and slammed his clawed fist into the head
of one of the knights, tearing past the armored helmet. It quickly turned into a rough
tackle with both of them tumbling, even though Jeff had the knight dead in his hands.
I had no spell ready and two knights in my face, giving me virtually nothing to
fight back with. In a last ditch effort, I managed to crank out a split second ember flash in
one knight's face just for shock, making him think I had charged up enough fire magic to
fry his face. As the second knight swung her sword at me, I knew I was going to get hit
but tried to at least dodge as much of the blade at possible.
Even as I crashed to the ground and felt the blade slice me along the side, I tried
to grit off the pain and just get another thunderbolt spell going. As I landed on my back,
the second knight quickly tried to land a deathblow my driving her sword through my
heart, but I quickly threw my hands forward and zapped the crap out of her chest as the
thunderbolt leapt from my hands and surged right into her gut.
Her body was throw back violently as electrical discharge raced through her body
and all of her conductive armor. The knight I had stunned for a minute earlier managed to
come to. He tried not to waste enough second when it came to ending my life by stabbing
me in the neck, but before he could do so, I saw the serrated end of a jagged bone spear
suddenly tear through the guy's chest... courtesy of Sarah, who had been flying above the
whole fight. The Calasal knight tried to fight the pain and still attempt a last ditch
deathblow, but I managed to crank out a quick glacial ice spell to freeze his gauntleted
hands and lock them into place.

Reacting quickly, I grabbed the other fallen knight's sword splattered with my
own green blood and stuffed it right where the knight's neck was, knowing that worked
pretty well last time. After ramming it in and pulling it back out with a fresh new coat of
red, the impaled knight collapsed. That left only Vrell now.
And then the next split second, I heard and saw Sarah get sniped out of the sky by
one of Vrell's shadowbolt spells, hitting her in the back and causing her to crash.
"Sarah!" I shouted in panic just as she hit the ground.
She was suddenly unconscious, and I could see Vrell was preparing to finish her
off with a last warlock spell. I had no time to save her, no spell that could be cast in time,
and I really began to panic. It was me being stupid screwing with this guy, if anyone
should have gotten hurt out of this, it should have been me, not her.
And then, out of the blue, I heard a swift slicing sound suddenly whip through the
air, and just as Vrell had his hands raised with dark magic ready to murder Sarah, I saw a
familiar pastel-colored knife now buried into Vrell's forehead. I quickly realized it was
the same one Starflower used, but while it had interrupted Vrell's spell and forced him to
start the casting over again, somehow the dark warlock managed to regain concentration
a few seconds later despite having a freaking knife in his brain.
Those few seconds were all I needed though. I quickly charged at him, and while
he tried his spell again, he made the mistake of switching his intended target from Sarah's
unconscious body to me, all because of his deep hatred of how I humiliated Calasal. He
saw I had no spell being prepared, but that's not what I needed. As the shadows of dark,
nether energy surrounded his hands, he just laughed.
"Eat death, Lilyara!" He howled with mad laughter.
I swung fast and hard as the jagged-edged blade of the sword I had in my hands
split the wind and connected with Vrell's neck with a loud, metallic shriek...
...and it didn't stop.
Vrell's maniacal gaze of murder became a lifeless stare as his jaw dropped and his
head slid off his neck and fell to the ground, followed by the rest of his collapsing body.
He had no last card to play. He was as dead as dead gets, and there was no way he
was getting back up again.
I quickly dropped the sword, causing it to clang loudly as it landed on the cobbled
stones, and rushed to Sarah, who looked like she had been burnt pretty badly by the
shadow magic. Large patches of her skin had been charred black and her scorched
butterfly wings also looked like there was no way they'd be able to allow her to fly
anymore.
"Sarah, Sarah..." I quickly grabbed her, trying to get her to wake up. "Come on,
come on, say something!"
She came to, but she was badly hurt and really weak. I had no idea if she was
going to make it. She opened her eyes, wincing in pain, but could not find the energy to
speak.
Starflower quickly rushed to me and tried to help however she could, but there
wasn't much she could do. Thanks to her, however, she at least gave Sarah some sliver of
a chance to live, and she allowed me to finish off Vrell. If it wasn't for that ridiculous
knife, she would have been dead without a doubt.
"Neither of you can go on, you're both too badly hurt!" Starflower exclaimed in
anxiety.

I hadn't even looked at my own cut, and taking a quick glance, it was bleeding
pretty badly, but I still felt like I could go on. I just tried to ignore it and find Jeff,
whatever happened to him.
After looking up, I then noticed him, limping his way toward us, both of his wings
badly broken in a twisted heap as I soon realized he must have crash-landed on them the
wrong way when he struck down and tackled that knight. Paired with the bashing in the
face he got earlier and a new cut he had taken across his scaled chest, he also was in a lot
of pain. He was at least able to walk, and when he saw Sarah had been badly hurt, he was
able to work on adrenaline to get over here faster.
"I'll..." Sarah muttered, just trying to breathe, "I'll be... okay. Guys... don't worry
about... me."
"We're getting out of here," Jeff growled with determination as he knelt beside
her. "I promise you that."
"I... don't even care... about that," Sarah weakly replied. "Just... finish off these
maniacs..."
"We're almost there," I told her, knowing we could still do this. "Don't give up on
me now."
She nodded, but then I remembered about the gems. I quickly turned around and
saw the bag carrying the three remaining ones had been thrown aside by Vrell before he
entered the fight. Meanwhile, I caught sight of the now active Terasphere that Demetri
had surrendered to Vrell before he was struck and overwhelmed by all that unholy
firepower.
I quickly raced to collect everything I could. Moving fast, I grabbed the bag with
the Springside, Summerfield, and Autumnvale gems and grabbed the Terasphere and
tossed it in. I could feel we were so close, but we just weren't there yet.
And then suddenly, I heard the flickering of pixie wings close by. I was startled
for a moment in my jumpy paranoia, but then I saw it was Mark, who seemed to already
have a good idea of what transpired right here.
"Oh man, this jus' went south, didn't it?" Mark asked, seeing I had been cut badly
and blasted in the back. "You guys alright?"
"Sarah's badly hurt, man," I told him, knowing she needed whatever energy he
had left. "You've got to save her. Jeff and I took a beating also but at least the two of us
aren't knocking on death's door like she is. And where are the rest of the pixies?"
"Dude, they're tryin' to save whoever they can," Mark told me, definitely
sounding like the situation with the wounded was really bad. "Syoko an' the others been
workin' way overtime. I'll see what I can do, but yeah, they're gonna be a while!"
There was no way he had the energy to devote into the magic needed to heal all of
us, but he could at least prevent her from dying. Still, as he quickly flew to try and heal
Sarah, I had gathered everything into the bag.
And that was went luck failed me at the worst possible moment. When I saw it, I
just quickly rolled over the bag's flap to secure everything inside and threw it long and far
to Jeff where he quickly caught it. There was no freaking time whatsoever.
"Get to cover!" I shouted to them.
Jeff and the others didn't understand at first, but it didn't take long before they did.
The massive shadow overcast was definitely a quick confirmation for everyone.
It was Xente. And his enormous, and utterly oversized dragon mount.

The warlord and commander of the Calasal attacking forces was dressed in
turquoise ornamental armor, all save for his head, which he seemed to think didn't need
protection. Like Akandal, his skin tone had a dull-blue color with long imp ears. His face
had the stern and adamant look of a real, cold-hearted master killer. His red eyes glared
fiercely at me while his silver hair reached his shoulders. Meanwhile, the sword this guy
wielded was like a freaking katana of mayhem that burned with blue and white flames.
As for his dragon, it was huge, standing thirty feet tall while covered with forestgreen scales, had glaring yellow eyes, lots of black spikes around his face and along his
neck and back while two massive leathery wings were attached to his back. And to top it
all off, it had a large tail with lots of spikes at the end. Along with all the other things
dragons usually have, including lots of teeth, claws, talons, and a whole lot of natural
desire to burn stuff up.
The others were able to take cover, but I was out in the open with nowhere to run.
And of course, standing right besides his beheaded Lieutenant. I swore, this had to be the
poster child example of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
His massive dragon landed in the courtyard, ripping up plenty of pink stones with
its talons in the process. As the dragon quickly turned around, surprisingly, Xente didn't
even seem all that enraged. I had a bad feeling that it was likely because he thought he
was already going to win and he had some really darn good reasons to believe that.
"Skylily the Renegade," Xente addressed me in a cold, authoritative voice. "Good
to see they hadn't killed you already. I would have been disappointed."
I wasn't sure what to make of this guy. Regardless, whatever happened, at least
the others had everything they needed to jump out of here, with or without me.
"I have to applaud your ingenuity, Skylily," He continued, smirking a bit. "Never
before has a conjurer mage and a Nightwind clan commander decided to assimilate the
ranks of quite possibly the weakest and most pathetic of races in all of Marsaras and use
that as a forefront weapon of deception."
Nightwind clan... commander?
I slyly looked down a bit and took a slight, out-of-the-corner-of-my-eye peek at
the Nightwind Summoner insignia... and he wasn't kidding. Syroxan. Seriously, the mark
of the highest Nightwind Summoner was right on my insignia. How did he even know?
Still, I was almost excited, but it was a sensation that was easy to hide considering I was
practically staring death by dragon right in the face.
"Surprised?" I asked sarcastically, trying to keep my cool.
"Of course not, it takes one to know one," Xente smirked. "You command the
Nightwind Summoners, and I command the Nightwind Manipulators. Us being rival
Nightwind Clan Commanders already makes us mortal enemies beyond all the other
reasons."
Nightwind Manipulators. Beautiful, I had really unknowingly gotten myself into
some deep crap by doing this, didn't I? Well, too late to turn back now, even if I wanted
to.
"You think this is deception?" I asked, still finding that funny. "You're all just so
used to slaughtering a race of flower dancers that... you know... just aren't warmongering
like some other folks in Springside and don't aspire to be for really good reasons. Yeah,
take a look around you. You may like the sight of blood and stuff burning like this, but
not everyone shares the same attitude."

"Ha, ha!" Xente laughed. "And what does that make you, hypocrite!?"
"More like a survivor," I told him, crossing my arms as I shot him a dark look. "I
represent the Lilyara that wish they could do what I can to give you fascists all a welldeserved dirt nap. And to all the others that you already cut down and incinerated 'just
because,' yeah, I'm the payback all those unavenged Lilyara wish existed when they hit
the ground dead."
I honestly didn't know what came over me, but I felt changed after being
surrounded by so many innocent dead and a burning city that wanted nothing to do with
war. My mind was swimming with thoughts, really wondering why I felt I had to defend
something I couldn't stand in one way, but felt it was wrong for anyone else to destroy in
another just because they didn't agree with it or wanted dominant authority. In the end, I
wanted this butcher's days of killing innocents and shedding blood to be over.
"Odd, you're not quite the way the others described, but it's no matter," Xente
replied, preparing for combat. "You are all just the same. Dead to me."
He could think what he liked, but I was not going to be just another one of this
guy's victims...
Chapter 15 - Broken Rites
Xente's griffon riders and foot soldiers stayed a safe distance away, obviously
thinking Xente had this and getting in the way of him and his dragon was a surefire way
to forgo personal safety. Plus it sounded like he would have been pretty pissed if one of
them stole his kill. Great for reassurance on my end...
Unfortunately, I couldn't expect the others to jump in. Sarah was barely surviving,
Mark was struggling to heal her, Jeff was an injured and mangled mess who couldn't even
fly anymore, and not only was Starflower unarmed with her only weapon stuck in Vrell's
severed head, but she needed to be ready to bail the others out of here if the worst
happened.
I didn't know what a Nightwind Manipulator entailed. That word could mean
anything, which essentially meant I couldn't let myself be surprised and just had to expect
whatever to come rolling my way. All that, accompanied by a green dragon and a burning
katana, as if he really needed that also. Made me wonder if he had an extra stun gun or
even pepper spray on his belt in case, I dunno, all of those others things just weren't
enough.
"Any last words before you descend into the Dark Netherpool?" Xente smiled
wickedly. "You stand before a Nightfall Dragon Rider commander that has five times
more power than you do and you're completely surrounded!"
"Looks like I'll need to slam you five times as hard then," I admitted shaking my
head and smiling. "As for all your other soldiers here... I sure feel sorry for them."
He tried to end this quickly.
I recognized his green dragon mount getting into attack position, and I had a
strong feeling I knew what that entailed. I knew at least he couldn't stop his dragon midattack, so I knew there was definitely going to be something spewing out of his maw. Or
at least I hoped so considering I had prepared a Water Barrier defensive spell to protect
against the rushing flames I was expecting.

I managed to time it just right, surrounding myself with a wall of water that would
hopefully protect against the rush of fire I was expecting. However, fire was not was
came out of that dragon's mouth. Instead, it was a vicious, noxious spray of poisonous
acid and gasses. Thinking fast, I bended the wall of water to become a globe shield
surrounding me, which thankfully managed to soak in the acid spray and gases without
allowing it to bypass and likely sizzle me to death.
When the dragon's acid breath attack stopped, I saw the water shield barrier had
absorbed so much acid and poison that it was totally black and green with pollution. I
then quickly broke the barrier by causing it to explode outward, spraying poisoned water
and noxious acid in all directions, right at Xente and high into the sky.
It caught many of them off guard and they were not prepared to have the contents
of Xente's own dragon's acid breath attack flung at them. Several of Xente's watching
griffon riders and foot soldiers were sprayed with the highly toxic acid water and I got a
good idea of what would have happened to me if I hadn't protected myself. Not even
metal plate armor could withstand the highly corrosive effects of the acid. While some
soldiers and griffons on the farther outskirts were only slightly burnt, the ones that were
obviously too close were slathered and eaten away by the stuff. Seconds later, a few
dying griffons and their doomed riders plummeted out of the sky as their horrified
screams rang out. I had to swiftly leap out of the way to dodge an heavy griffon's body
from slamming into me as it even left a crater in its wake. I saw another crash into one of
the courtyard fountains, sending marble chunks flying in all directions as the rider was
helplessly thrown into a pile of building rubble.
Xente managed to protect himself with some swirling black, void-like barrier
shield he was able to conjure up out of nowhere, but he was not able to shield his own
dragon, which took some of the acid to the eyes. It burned him a little, but after blinking
twice and shaking it off, I could tell he was barely bothered by his own noxious acid
hitting him in the face.
The surviving Calasal troops wised up about how they watched this whole bout,
clearing out of the way by a lot. Xente was a bit surprised, but he even seemed to be
enjoying it.
"Yes, I'm going to enjoy this," Xente smiled with no care about his fallen allies as
he prepared to take flight with his dragon. "Finally, a challenge from a Lilyara I can
actually learn something from!"
"Hope it's more fun than you think it's going to be!" I shouted back at him.
His dragon quickly took flight, and I kept focused on watching Xente and making
sure he didn't pull anymore stunts as I tried to prepare a Lightning Strike spell. But there
was something horrible I overlooked.
Totally not expecting it, I was struck in the left shoulder by one of the dragon's
sword-like talons, and a horrible foot-long gash was dug into my arm as the dragon flew
past. I stumbled and the lightning spell was broken as I saw a worrisome amount of green
blood had been sprayed out over the cobbled stone ground. It was really bleeding badly
and hurt terribly, but in a way, I was lucky that dragon hadn't just ripped my whole arm
off...
It was clear, I needed to get Xente off of that thing. As he flew through the air, he
spun around and prepared to make a swooping strike. As he quickly charged down with
the speed of a freaking eagle, I quickly jumped down landed on my chest in the middle of

one of the craters, hoping there would be too little for Xente's dragon to grab a hold of.
While in the crater, I tried to lay as flat as possible, and when the strike came, the green
dragon's talons tore several of the giant lily petals of the lily flower on my back to shreds,
which thankfully was pretty negligible. Upon trying to swing back up, the dragon
smashed his way through one of the still partially standing buildings, sending more
chunks of stone walls and snapped wooden beams in all directions.
He then tried the same kind of attack again, thinking he was keeping me
suppressed and helpless and it would only be a matter of time before his dragon snagged
me with his talons in just the right spot. All the while, I wasn't able to hit Xente because
he was moving too fast and was too hard of a target to hit. As his dragon flew around, I
got an idea and began casting a Frost Nova spell. I wanted to pack as much power into
this thing as I could, because it could make the difference between stopping this dragon
or getting ripped open by it.
They came back down again, and I tried to do the same as before, lie flat on my
stomach but still keep on casting. As soon as I felt the shadow descend down upon me, I
saw my intended targets spread out before me. The green dragon's talons were fully open
and ready for the kill, but just a second before they clamped down, I unleashed the Frost
Nova spell, focusing the main concentration of freezing ice and cold not at the talons or
at Xente... but at the dragon's fully spread and open wings, suddenly freezing them solid
and locking them into place.
The dragon still managed to get a botched swipe at my back, tearing up a few
more petals and leaving a moderately-sized laceration on my back. Suddenly losing his
ability to fly caused his attack to be messed up, but what happened after that was more
rewarding. The dragon tried a last-ditch attempt to land, but instead crashed and tumbled,
forcing Xente to recklessly leap off and dismount to avoid getting crushed by his own
dragon in the spiraling chaos. Yet another Floranta building was smashed to the ground as
the green dragon used it to cushion his crash landing.
I didn't have too much time. I knew I had carelessly forgotten the name of that
phoenix summon, but there was one I remembered seeing that I knew only the Syroxan
Nightwind Summoner could call in. While both Xente and his dragon were trying to
recover from the unexpected crash landing, I knew I had to make this count. I spread my
arms and spoke the words.
Las machodaz Nighwindash scarmonas ci gaznardash vinc somnia
Sectash forodoth Krykana-Sal!
My hands flaring brilliantly, I quickly saw the blazing, Nightwind Summoner sigil
take up almost the entire courtyard. The ground rumbled, and it was at that moment that
the majestic, Divinity Dragon Krykana-Sal utterly tore her way through the courtyard,
ripping almost everything, including three of the fountains, into pieces and decimated
dust. She was incredible, a massive dragon of white, pearly scales, gleaming sapphirecolored eyes, colossal pearl-colored wings, and a slender, graceful tail with two elegant
fins at the tip.
Xente's green dragon, totally in a fit of angry rage, had managed to smash off the
ice that had locked his wings and was fully back in flight, seeking bloody vengeance on
me for what I did to him. However, upon reentering the ravaged courtyard that had been
like an arena, he was not anticipating another dragon's presence.

"Finish him!" I shouted as loud as I could as I pointed to the incoming green

dragon.
Krykana-Sal didn't waste a second, spotting her target immediately. Where
Xente's green dragon thought he still had the advantage, his eyes were suddenly lit up in
panic, and it was too late to back out. His wings were weakened, his body hurt and in
pain from the crash landing, and it was all Krykana-Sal needed to have the edge.
She surged toward the green dragon, ferociously latched onto him, and charged
toward the sky with blazing, incredible speed. Xente's dragon roared, trying to fight back,
but just before he tried to attack, Krykana-Sal released her death-grasp and flung him
upward while gathering a tremendous surge of blazing white energy in her open maw. In
fear, the Calasal troops just outright retreated, leaving the courtyard as fast as their legs or
griffon could carry them.
Helpless to fight back or even escape, Xente's dragon roared with frustration...
just a mere second before Krykana-Sal unleashed the most ferocious and epic beam of
light and divine energy ever, slamming into the green dragon before punching a massive
hole in and out of him.
In a flash of light, Krykana-Sal vanished. Xente's dying dragon screamed in
horrible pain as he tumbled to the ground before slamming and quaking the ravaged
ground where Krykana-Sal had been summoned. The impact snapped the neck of his
already mutilated body with the most satisfying crunch sound I've ever had the joy to
listen to.
Xente's green dragon was a goner. I was utterly exhausted, badly hurt, bleeding
green blood all over the place, but at least I was alive. I just tried to catch my breath,
knowing Xente was still out there and was going to want payback in blood. I had
escalated to become his biggest nemesis and he wanted me dead more than anything.
As I saw him reenter the courtyard, blazing katana drawn and ready for combat, I
could tell the unexpected crash landing had injured him a bit as well, causing his armor to
be dented in places and give him a bloody lip and a nasty scratch on the side of his face.
As he saw his deceased dragon absolutely slaughtered right in front of him, I
could tell his look of confidence had been wiped and replaced with raw, aggressive anger.
He hadn't expected me to last this long or take the fight this far.
"You are going to woefully regret that mistake with your blood!" Xente shouted in
anger.
"And this is the difference between the massacre you expected and the war you
got instead," I told him with determination, fighting off the pain. "In war, both sides
suffer. Ask yourself how much you enjoy this now. Ask yourself how much you enjoy
watching your friends and allies die around you as your own blood hits the ground. Is it
all you ever wanted!?"
"Shut up," Xente spat at me, pointing his twitching, gauntleted finger at me. "This
is no war. You have no real army!"
Yeah, as if that mattered. He just didn't get it.
"You're no different from a common criminal," I told him, preparing a cold, icy
counterattack.
He surged at me, swinging his blazing katana at me that I managed to freeze with
an icy, solidifying spell just a split second before it connected. Not only did it freeze the
blade, but it covered the bladed part. It still felt painful, let getting hit with a rod of ice

would, but upon impact, the katana was broken into pieces. Frozen-solid katana bits were
thrown in all directions. In his frustration, he spun and kicked me hard in the chest,
throwing me backward. I stumbled to try and stay up, and with a quick reaction, he used
his broken katana and swung at my chest, hitting it with a long but thankfully not a very
deep laceration. Yet it was one more cut to add to all the other lovely injuries I had gotten
from everything else I had faced this day.
"Nava sartavia mov felotov!" Xente shouted.
Using his Nightwind Manipulation powers, he somehow turned the broken katana
into a fiery whip. He then quickly lashed at me with it, striking me on the side and back
with a blow that felt horribly painful and burned to ridiculous degrees.
"Dracanas se kitonso xovinsa!"
Suddenly, even the whole courtyard was enveloped with nightmarish shadows and
all went suddenly wrong. The rich pastel colors of Floranta were replaced by sickly hues
of violent, black, and blood-colored crimson. All the shadows were soon gathered behind
Xente himself as he stood over me. It was like he had his own personal army of
nightmares ready to be unleashed.
"See, you stupid Lilyara?" Xente laughed. "I have unstoppable power as a
Manipulator that not even your summoning can challenge. You were destined for death
the very moment I decided to fight you."
I didn't know what to make of it. I quickly tried to gather fireball spell into action,
and even despite him whipping me again in the leg, I fought like crazy to keep the spell
going and not let it get broken in interruption. But then, even when I threw the fireball at
him, it was like he could bend reality however he decided.
"Savantra thal!" He shouted with a wave of his hand.
He stopped it dead in mid-air and having a bad feeling, I managed to conjure up a
quick water blast spell just moments before he redirected it back in my face. I quickly
threw the water spell at it just in time. Smoke, embers, and steam were thrown in all
directions, but at least I didn't get incinerated with my own freaking spell.
I struggled to try and find a solution. Summoning anything would take too long,
and this guy could spin the rules with just a few, simple commands. Meanwhile, I was
working off of pure adrenaline... or whatever the heck Lilyaras used when they were in
serious, critical trouble...
He then threw his shadows at me, hoping to swallow me from the inside out with
them. Thinking fast, I tried to generate as much light as possible using a Solar Flare spell,
letting the shadows surround me for just a few seconds before I blasted them with a
blinding light that lit the whole area up.
Time and time again, I tried everything I could throw at him while he was able to
change the rules, swap weapons, make shields, and basically throw reality in his favor
while I struggled just to minimize the damage. I managed a few weak blows on him, but
eventually he got me in the leg again with some painful spiked flail weapon and I lost my
balance and crashed to the ground. I was so dead-tired and hurt that I sincerely doubted
I'd be able to conjure out another spell.
"Savinata!" He shouted, using his power to turn the flail into a ferocious, jagged
long-sword, which he then put the blade to my neck.
The dark, swirling shadows soon vanished. The ruined battleground of Floranta
soon returned to normal, and I lied there, helpless, rapidly running out of ideas. I hated

the smirk on this chump's face, but he had me cornered. All he had to do was shove that
thing in my throat and my whole life would just come to a screeching halt.
"You failed," Xente smiled and roared with laughter even with bloody teeth as he
stood over me. "For what you've done, I'll make sure every last living memory of you is
completely eradicated! Despite all your efforts, you still can't prove your pathetic race
has any worth beyond being obliterated!"
I had a feeling his dark, bloody grin might just be the last thing I'd ever see in this
life. He jerked back his hand grasping the jagged sword as I tried one last icy spell I
began to panic I wouldn't have time for.
And that was when the most amazing thing happened...
Suddenly I saw a brutal, bloody prism-shaped arrowhead tear out his chest. He
suddenly lurched in pain, and for a split second, he turned around to see who had shot
him in the back.
"He no longer needs to!" I heard Cherry Blossom shout out.
He snarled at her and with that tiny window of opportunity, I let loose the nastiest
impaling Ice Shard spell I could unleash, launching it forcefully into Xente's chest,
skewing him. He painfully lurched upon being impaled and howled with anger and pain. I
strained hard to pour the last of my energy into one more, a small, blade-like one that I
shot right into the perfect place.
It sliced and struck deep into his neck, cutting off his breathing and causing blood
to start filling up his throat and lungs. I felt like I was panting at a million miles an hour
while Xente dropped his manipulated sword and grabbed his neck while blood was
trickling all over his fingers.
He tried to speak, scream, or something, but all that came out were gargles. He
then stumbled back and lost his footing, tripping over a small crater in the ground and
landed on his back. He struggled to try and get up, but his life was rapidly fading away.
After a few seconds, he squirmed and writhed a bit as a last effort, and then just fell limp
and cold.
At that moment, even his manipulated sword suddenly shattered into fragments
that blew away into nothingness. All that was left of Xente was a dead corpse surrounded
by a pool of blood. The commander warlord of Calasal, highest ranked Nightwind
Manipulator on the planet, killed because he sorely underestimated what happens when
he pushed even the most docile of races too far.
I looked up and couldn't believe what I saw. Cherry Blossom... with a freaking
crossbow. I figured she must have picked it up off of a fallen Lintuan or whatever, but she
genuinely had the guts to load it, aim it, and pull the trigger to impale that maniac. She
proved that Starflower and I weren't the only Lilyara that could use a weapon and holy
crap did it send one, nice last message to Xente before he croaked.
"Skylily!" She screamed, racing to me.
She threw the crossbow down and ran across the decimated courtyard to reach
me, looking traumatized at how badly wounded I was.
"Oh... look at what they did to you!" She sympathized. "I'm so sorry! You were
right this whole time!"
"It's... okay..." I told her, feeling really weak.

She wept hard and I could imagine what was probably racing through her head
right now. I could tell those Calasal schmucks had never hit Floranta to this degree
before, and never before had she seen her hometown ransacked and gutted like this.
"Please don't die, please," She begged, feeling overwhelmed. "I've... already lost
too many good friends today!"
I was so tired, and I was really hoping it wasn't because I was dying. It could have
been the overuse of magic, running around, or whatever, but I tried to stay awake...
* * *
Calasal's forces had hauled their butts out of Floranta. I found out that from Farrel
shortly after Floranta's defenders had retaken the city. The death toll was heavy and the
amount of damage to Floranta was massive, but Calasal had lost their leading warlord
and plenty of other high-ranking military goons. They had never, ever expected to suffer
a blow like that before and I certainly hoped they wouldn't be dumb enough to try that
again. War wasn't gentile on anyone and they were learning that brutal reality first-hand.
Thankfully, Sarah had survived and most of the wounds she and Jeff had taken
had been healed at least to a point where they weren't crippled for life and would maybe
only need a week or two before making a full recovery. Mark and Syoku recommended
they lay off flying for a while. I wasn't about to play the violin for them considering I
never even got the chance to try flying.
Personally, I found out Lilyara regeneration can be slow, and gets slower the more
injuries one takes. But thankfully, most of the wounds I had taken didn't last too long and
eventually closed up and healed over. Thankfully, I got to live on after all.
The afternoon sun was beginning to set on a ravaged but at least victorious
Floranta. I figured it would probably at least be a year before they were able to rebuild
and repair everything, but for now, as we stayed by the large open courtyard that had
been pretty much blown to bits from the fight we had with Vrell and Xente, we recovered
and it seemed like we made it after all.
"You..." Farrel told me, totally in disbelief. "I can't believe you stood up to Calasal
like that! Never has anyone in all of Springside challenged them! Not even the Great
Loserra!"
Yeah, "Great Loserra," who was he kidding? Would have been nice if said giant
rainbow bug showed up when we needed him back there. Whatever, it wasn't a big deal.
"I didn't do it alone," I reminded him, hating the idea of robbing peoples' credit
and being "that jerk" who did that kind of thing.
"But you led them so courageously!" Farrel insisted. "No, you're no renegade!
You're the kind of defender Floranta needs!"
I sighed. It was blatantly easy to see where this was going. I tried to gingerly
break away from these guys, as I knew I'd get cooped up here forever if I gave them room
to keep me tied here for any longer. This place had a knack for that kind of thing.
"Sorry, but I can't," I told Farrel, intentionally being vague. "I've somewhere else
I've got to be. You've got to dust this place off and get it back on its feet. That, and always
be ready. If you truly love something, you've got to be prepared and willing to give up
everything to defend it. Trash that stupid Lilyara code. Give them a chance to learn how
to fight and defend what they live for."

"I... I understand," Farrel nodded. "Things will... need to change, I guess."

I rejoined Jeff, Sarah, and Mark. We had the four gems, we had a recharged
Terasphere. It was time to discover what really lied within the Amethyst Chamber and if
it really held all the things we needed. But before we left...
"No...!" Cherry Blossom cried out to me, ambushing me out of the blue before
giving me a strong hug. "No, please don't go! Don't leave when things are just about to
get better! You will love it here, I promise!"
It was sweet, but yeah, this place really wasn't my kind of thing. I just felt like I
didn't belong here in the slightest and she just needed to accept that.
"Sorry, but I've got to go now," I replied, patting her on the shoulder. "I don't
know, maybe I'll be back again someday. You take care of this place until then."
"Okay... I-I promise," She wept. "Please, don't ever forget about us! We'll never
forget about you!"
Farrel ushered her aside, and I soon rejoined the others. Once we were a safe
distance away, I could just see Sarah giggling.
"That is so adorable," Sarah snickered. "Skylily, the hero of Floranta!"
"Yeah, uh huh," I told her cynically, brushing that off as I quickly fished out the
Terasphere out of the bag. "Moving on then..."
But, before I held it out for the others to use it, I was suddenly approached by
Starflower. She seemed to have mixed reactions, not sure how to take all of this, but she
really wanted to tell me something.
"I... I want to thank you," Starflower told us all, but then turned specifically to
me. "I know... I'm pretty well aware you never really wanted to be a Lilyara. And you
showed... obvious signs of not wanting to be in Floranta either. I feel greatly responsible
for putting you in a situation you didn't want to be in. And yet all of you, especially you...
Ken, were willing to sacrifice your lives to protect it. If... if leaving Marsaras is truly
what you want to do, I'll help you all find your way back home. And if possible... I'll help
you return to Fluxeon forms, regardless of how hard it may be."
"I would really appreciate that," I told her, amazed she used my real name this
time.
"I also want to come with you to find the Amethyst Chamber," Starflower told us.
"I'm sure there will be something there that will help us defend Floranta and can help the
Lilyara learn the way of magic. They won't need to be afraid again, and I'm sure that will
bring us all happiness."
I nodded. Jeff, Sarah, and Mark were willing to give it the green light also.
Hopefully, once we really found out the secrets of this place, it would give us all a little
something we wanted...
Epilogue
We never actually did go back to Lashira, find Tarka, or join the Silver Vanguard.
And I certainly didn't wait around to ask Loserra if it was "okay" if we just borrowed the
four gems for a while. I was willing to bet all the money I'd ever make in my life on him
saying no and that it was better for us to help defend and rebuild Floranta. So yeah, screw
that.

We did what we wanted to do and used the Terasphere to head back to Opalstone
and find our way back to the entrance. It meant frying a few more unwanted critters along
the way, but that was easy money. After arriving at the entrance, we decided we'd see
what this place was really made of. We plugged in the gems, deactivated the barrier
around the entrance, and walked in, not sure what to expect. I had plenty of ideas in mind
as to what I thought it would be, but things changed when we kept following the path and
got down deeper and deeper, making it clear digging another entrance to this place was
never happening considering they could spend decades doing that and just dig in
completely the wrong direction. When we finally found a light at the end of the tunnel,
what happened next was something I wasn't expecting at all.
It wasn't just a chamber or some vault. It wasn't even some treasure room or
something like that. What opened up before us was an entire underground city. The
buildings, some of them being even twenty stories tall, were made of a gleaming violet
stone, which I wasn't sure was actually amethyst or not. I wasn't a wizard on geology. But
this place had everything. It even had an underground river and some kind of massive orb
suspended in the air that could simulate day and night like an artificial sun.
The place was also strange. It was brimming with magical presences, the streets
were large and wide enough to be the home of several tens of thousands of people, only
they were completely empty and quiet except for us. It was crazy to think this place had
been empty for centuries. Meanwhile, many of the buildings, homes, and structures were
still perfectly intact and all their furniture and interiors were totally untouched, as if they
were simply waiting for their owners to come back home any minute now. It really made
me wonder what the whole story was behind this place. Why did everyone just seemingly
get up and leave when this place was totally self-sufficient and was really pretty easy to
defend?
We were amazed by it, and the city offered plenty for the five of us to explore. It
would take decades to explore everything, but we didn't want to stay here that long. I was
already beginning to wonder where they kept the magic books in this place.
It took us roughly four months to gather what we needed. Sarah and I found
several libraries with plenty of books on conjuration and necromancy that had been
forgotten about for a really long time. Seal Siphoning came in handy again, as it would
have taken us centuries to study everything in there. I eventually did find the book on
Celestial Rifts, much to everyone's relief. It was definitely not an easy spell to pull off,
and to make the perfect portal to Earth definitely needed at least some knowledge about
the place before going there. Truthfully, it felt like I hadn't been there in forever.
While I made sure the Celestial Rift would work, step two of the plan took so
long it had us worried that we might just have to face returning to Earth the way we were.
Undoing the effects of Fluxeon transformations was heinously difficult as we discovered.
It in fact required us to get Starflower specialized into the school of Renunciation magic
and become a freaking grandmaster at it. It was no joke. The illegal art of Seal Siphoning
was a total must to pull this off considering it required so much flushing out of magic to
make it work. She had to end up Siphoning out a whopping four libraries worth of magic
book reading material to have all the spells she needed to be able to undo the
transformations we had been turned into.
According to her, Mark, the Autumn Willow Pixie, would be the easiest out of the
four of us to dispel. He didn't mind being the guinea pig in this, and after we had

prepared for him a fresh change of clothes, Starflower went ahead and transformed him
back to human. It actually took a good fifteen minutes before she completed the spell, but
it really did work. Mark was back to being human, although it seemed he had a little
trouble getting used to it again considering he had been flying around for the past few
months as his main method of transportation.
After needing a day for Starflower to rest, Jeff the Draco ended up taking over an
hour, but she pulled it off successfully with him as well. What really shocked him was the
sensation of having normal human hands again as opposed to razor dragon claws and a
large dragon snout. The amount of Renunciation magic it took for Starflower caused her
to feel really tired, but it was working really well and things were looking quite
promising.
That just left Sarah and I at this point. We weren't sure which one of us would go
first, but before we could even decide, Starflower got concerned and felt the need to
speak up.
"I don't know how to say this..." Starflower told the two of us, looking very
cautious. "Sarah, I'm going to need you to go first. There's... something that could go
wrong and I didn't want to mention it until I really needed to."
"Like... like what?" Sarah asked, looking alarmed.
"I'm sure you already know this is heavy Renunciation magic I'm using,"
Starflower told her, giving her a heads up warning. "There is a strong chance it will flush
out your ability to cast your necromancy spells."
I figured that would be a bummer, since it seemed Sarah really enjoyed impaling
freaks and geeks with bone spears, shadow attack mayhem, and all kinds of freakish
death stuff, but then it hit me like an iron brick.
"Oh crap!" I exclaimed, knowing what that meant.
"Wait, someone explain to me what's going on!?" Sarah asked in a bit of panic,
really not liking the sounds of any of this.
Mark and Jeff didn't exactly understand what it meant either, but Starflower
remained silent and I knew exactly why. I had a tough time trying to spill the truth, but
when I got the courage, I then I looked toward the others and had to let them know. I
knew exactly what this meant and it was really rotten news.
"It means if it does wipe away magic casting ability, I need to stay the way I am
so I can cast the Celestial Rift," I told her, knowing I couldn't afford to have my
conjuration powers wiped clean if that's what this high-level Renunciation spell did. "If I
lose conjuration magic, there's no way any of us are going home."
"No!" Sarah shouted, totally in shock. "No, come on, that's too unfair! Come on,
not when we're this close!"
I tried to think of alternatives if this didn't work, but it either involved Starflower
having to come with us to Earth so she could restore me back to normal there, which
wasn't something that would be fair on her either considering she'd never see home again
and she'd have to figure out how to live the rest of her life on Earth as a Lilyara, or I go
back home as a Lilyara instead and stay that way for the next eight hundred years, which
entailed a whole other series of problems. There was definitely no easy way about this.
"Dude, that's..." Mark muttered, totally baffled. "Oh man, does that suck."
In the meantime, a Celestial Rift portal, when done correctly, only lasted for a
limited time. There was no way I could cast it, get restored to normal in time, and be able

to use it to go home either. And even as a fourth dead alternative, it already took
Starflower heaps of time to become a master at Renunciation. I wasn't even sure who else
we could train before Mark, Jeff, or Sarah got transformed into something else because it
took so long, especially with the high-potency magic of this place.
"Ken, I..." Starflower muttered, not sure what to do at this point. "I know this isn't
something you really want to hear, but... you still do have a home here..."
I just winced at the very thought of that. I knew what she was talking about. It was
totally about staying here like this, alone, and returning to Floranta, especially when they
were thrilled beyond belief that I managed to save their town from total destruction. It
sincerely didn't feel like home, though, I didn't care how she tried to market it that way.
"No, please, at least try it on me first," Sarah told her, regardless of the risk. "I... I
enjoyed necromancy for a while, but I don't need it. Let's... at least try it first."
"Okay..." Starflower told her, still feeling a bit doubtful. "Let's just hope for the
best."
No freaking kidding.
It took a long time to transform Sarah from an Azurewing Butterfly back to being
human again. From what I could tell, this level of Renunciation magic required a lot and
the more I watched her become so enveloped with brilliant, almost eye-blinding, magicerasing effects, the more worried I got. All the while, the thoughts just kept eating away
at me and I kept looking at my Lilyara flowers like I was definitely going to be wearing
these forever. I had gotten... somewhat used to them by now, but all that time, I felt so
strongly that I could go back to normal at least somehow, some way. If I really had to
walk away from this place with the reality that they were stuck there permanently, it was
going to burn pretty deep.
As the minutes crawled, I kept watching with anticipation. This was even worse
than keeping watch at the old farmhouse that one night. I kept thinking we still had a
chance because Sarah and I were still human when we first learned magic, but
Starflower's words had me really worried this spell of hers was going to seriously flush
the slate clean. There was no telling how this was going to conclude until it was over.
I watched the entire time and it was over an hour until the spell was finished,
Starflower was totally exhausted, but Sarah was totally human again. As much as I
DIRELY wanted to check for her Necromancer insignia before she got dressed to see the
full result of her spell, she got changed into a robe inside a small shed-like structure
before she came out. When she emerged and I looked at her, I seriously didn't like the
look on her face.
"Ken..." She muttered, looking disheartened.
"Oh... crap..." I replied, having a bad feeling what this was probably going to
mean.
"Ken, I'm really sorry," Sarah told me in dismay. "I... didn't want to tell you at
first. I... I don't know what to say, we'll... work something out..."
Yeah, it was back to trying to figure out what to do now. Oh man, I was really
hoping there was a chance here.
I looked back to Starflower to see if there was any chance she could be convinced
to come with us, but I knew she was still needed here. Heck, she was intending to use this
place to help Floranta rebuild, reinforce, and get people trained to protect it against
Calasal. I couldn't expect her to come.

After really drilling my brain out trying to figure out the best possible option, I
just sighed and decided going back to Earth as a Lilyara wasn't really a big deal. I'd figure
things out. Heck, maybe when I was feeling gutsy enough, one day I'd just use a Celestial
Rift back to Marsaras and maybe find some other way to undo it. I had barely explored
this place, so maybe there was a chance after all...
"What!?" I heard Mark shout, suddenly derailing my train of thought. "Holy crap,
Sarah, that is so not cool."
"Ken, she still has them!" Jeff shouted to me.
I quickly spun around and just before Sarah could cover it up, I saw she still
freaking had her emblem and her Necromancer powers. I was seriously on the verge of
smacking the stuffing out of her.
"Oh come on, it was just a harmless prank," Sarah told the two of them with a
devilish smile, not expecting for them to spill the beans after she revealed the truth to
them.
I then just gave her the evil eye, not sure whether to be really pissed or really
relieved, but I guess I was a mixture of both.
"Sarah, if we ever come back here," I told her, really giving her a stern look,
"Trust me, you're going to be chugging Sun Water for a dang long time."
"Ha, ha, oh, I'll sure help you with that!" Starflower laughed with a tired smile.
In the end, Sarah had proven that despite the heavy flushing effects of the racial
restoration spell Starflower used, it at least didn't strip her of her magical abilities. My
original thought was right, and that using magic was different from being directly
affected by it, hence why both of us still remained human when we first learned our way
around it.
When Starflower finally did have the energy after a few hours of rest and the four
of us getting crazy paybacks against each other for pranks and whatnot, I was up. Sure,
being a Lilyara had a few perks over being a human, but it just wasn't meant for me.
"Last chance," Starflower told me, still wearing a relieved smile I had this option.
"I'm hoping if Floranta ever does face trouble again, you'll come back, but that's totally
up to you. Are you ready?"
"Go for it," I told her, ready to finally shed these pesky things.
I soon got a first-hand feel on what it feels like to be under a heavy Renunciation
spell, but it felt almost numbing and liberating at the same time. It was nice to just close
my eyes, let the minutes of restoration pass, and feel almost like I was floating while the
spell was going on. Ravi, despite all his cautions and warnings, wasn't totally right after
all, and it was nice to know there really was a way out after all.
After what felt like a long session of floating and washing, it was over. The green
skin and every last flower was erased. As I quickly got dressed again, it felt almost weird
to be a human again with hair, bare skin, and not one gigantic skirt of flower petals or
some monster-sized lily flower on my back. It was crazy to think I would need some time
to get used to being the way I was supposed to be, but I was sure in a few weeks, I
wouldn't even be thinking about it anymore. In the meantime, I was still definitely a
conjurer and still the top of the food chain when it came to Nightwind Summoners. I
didn't know if I'd ever use these powers again, but for the time being, they were still very
cool looking tattoos.

With the four of us finally returned to human, it was that time. We needed to go
before we found out just how fast even a second round of Fluexon experience resulting in
us changing into a whole new slew of creatures. I wasn't sure if we'd ever see this place
again, but in the end, I got to see something with three "just former coworkers" into really
awesome, lifelong friends that I was sure would still bring up this whole incident for
many years to come.
"Thanks for everything," I told Starflower, knowing we'd still be in a jam without
her.
"Was the least I could do," Starflower replied with a soft smile. "All the best to
you guys."
After we said our goodbyes, I prepared the Celestial Rift spell, knowing it would
be the ticket to our real home. It took focus, concentration, and energy, but after cutting
through time and space and opening up a portal on the receiving end, it was time to go
through. It felt like it had been too long since we last saw home and there were so many
moments where I was convinced we just might not ever see it again, but I could finally
drop all those crappy thoughts into the septic tank of craptastic experiences I didn't want
to remember and just appreciate what we did have here.
Once the portal was opened, I saw it was like a whirlpool of white and blue,
creating a wormhole that cut down light-years worth of travel back to Earth. Ordinarily,
while it might have seemed like the strangest thing to someone who didn't know anything
about magic, to me, it was quite the "welcome home" mat.
We waved goodbye, and stepped on through...
After feeling that weird blacking out sensation, suddenly my feet landed on solid
ground, and when I opened my eyes, seeing Interstate 10 West, empty desert fields and a
few mountains in the distance may not have seemed like much of a sight for anyone back
on Earth, but to us, it was definitely more than a welcome sight. Feeling that familiar
desert heat felt pretty darn good as well.
I looked around and it didn't seem like anyone had seen us suddenly pop out of
nowhere, but it wasn't long before we started seeing cars and trucks pass along the way.
We walked out onto the shoulder near a metal guardrail, but still, it was crazy to think
something so ordinary seemed so cool right there. And as I looked to see cars and trucks
coming down the road, only one thing came to mind.
Freaking American traffic never looked so good.
We didn't have our phones anymore, weren't exactly sure how far we'd have to
walk to get back to Phoenix, and we certainly didn't have Al's car anymore. At that point,
I couldn't help but smile and turn to Jeff.
"So... want to try getting us a ride?" I asked him, remembering the hitchhiker
reference from earlier.
"Yeah, I'm not going to miss those claws," Jeff nodded with one of those rare
smiles of his.
It didn't take him very long to signal down a nice, large, white modern pickup
truck that looked like it had room for all of us, even if it meant sitting in the back. The
driver had pulled over to the side of the road, rolled down the passenger side window, and
looked to us. It was young guy with short blonde hair, blue eyes, probably in his late 30s,

wearing a gray t-shirt and blue jeans. I imagined our current clothing fresh out of
Marsaras must have looked a bit weird, but hey, it was clothing, we couldn't complain.
"Hey, you guys need a ride?" He asked looking a bit surprised.
"Yeah, our car broke down and we got... sidetracked," I told him, knowing just
how much was in that one, little word. "Think you could give us a ride to Phoenix?"
"Sure, get in, I'm on my way there already," He smiled.
As Sarah decided to sit in the passenger seat, Mark, Jeff, and I climbed into the
back cab.
After Sarah shut the passenger door, it wasn't long until the truck got back on the
road and joined the rest of the traffic heading toward the "Valley of the Sun." It was crazy
to think I actually welcomed hearing the roar of a nearby truck and even the loud rush of
a passenger jet flying through the sky. You never really understand what it's like to
suddenly miss those kinds of little things until you just don't see them anymore.
It all felt so surreal as we headed down the highway, but in a way, even the bliss
of just being where we belonged had its own kind of magical feel to it.